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JUNGLE JOE, 
PRIDE OF THE CIRCUS 


THE STORY OF A TRICK ELEPHANT 


BOOKS BY 

CLARENCE HAWKS 


Cloth. Illustrated. Jackets in Colors 

DAPPLES OF THE CIRCUS 
The Story of a Shetland Pony and a Boy 

A GENTLEMAN FROM FRANCE 
An Airedale Hero 

JUNGLE JOE: PRIDE OF THE CIRCUS 
The Story of a Trick Elephant 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., 

BOSTON 











He sent the tiger thirty feet into the tree-tops 

Page 33. 









JUNGLE JOE, 
PRIDE CIRCUS 

THE STORY OF A TRICK ELEPHANT 


By CLARENCE HAWKES 

Author of '•'Dapples of Circus f 

"A Gentleman from France f etc. 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

L. J. BRIDGMAN 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CQ, 




CoPrRIGHT, 1926, 

Bv Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 

All Rights Reserved 
Jungle Joe 


\ 


Printed in U. S. A. 


IRorwooD prees 

BERWICK & SMITH CO. 
Norwood, Mass. 





To 

Every Boy or Girl Who Loves 
the American Circus^ 

This Book is Dedicated 
by 

One Whose Heart still Pounds at the Blare 
of the Circus Bandy and Who Revels in 
the Odor of the Sawdust Ringy and the Sady 
Sweet Smell of Crushed GrasSy and the 
Push and Hustle of the Circus Crowd, 







THE ELEPHANT 


When people call this beast to mind 
They marvel more and more 
At such a little tail behind, 

So large a trunk before. 

Hilaire Belloc 





CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction. The Mighty Pachyderm - 9 

I. Baby Elephant - - - - 23 

II. The Jungle Folk - _ _ ^4 

III. The Great Drive _ - - 60 

IV. Breaking the Wild Elephant - 76 

V. The Trip to Singapore - - 96 

VI. The Jungle Folk Go Sailing - 132 

VII. The Life OF A Trick Elephant - 153 
VIII. JoiE Goes Mad - - - - 169 

IX. A Plunge in the Dark - - 184 

X. JoiE Wins Two Wagers - - 203 

XI. The Great Tiger-Hunt - - 224 

XII. Ali and Joie Find a Home - - 240 


6 




ILLUSTRATIONS 

He sent the tiger thirty feet into 

the tree-tops (Page 33 ) . Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

They started in a mad stampede through 

the jungle. 70 

‘‘ Peace, brother, peace ” . . . .122 

“ Hello, Sahib, are you fishing for croco¬ 
diles ? ”.202 

So Queenie charged straight through the 

party of camera men . . .230 

The two grew into the hearts and affec¬ 
tions of all the children . . , 250 


7 



INTRODUCTION 


THE MIGHTY PACHYDERM 

It would be a safe guess that ninety- 
nine per cent, of the children in our United 
States love and worship the American 
Circus, and well they may, for it is an 
American institution, developed by that 
great American genius, Mr. P. T. Bar- 
num. 

Even the kings and queens of Europe, 
who are supposed to see everything that 
is worth while, had never seen the Ameri¬ 
can Circus until Mr. Barnum took his show 
across the Atlantic Ocean and exhibited in 
Europe. 

One of the pleasant pictures of spring¬ 
time is that of an excited group of chil¬ 
dren, gathered about the latest circus 

9 


10 


JUNGLE JOE 


poster. They stand with mouth agape, 
and eyes stretched wide open, while with 
their hands they gesticulate, trying vainly 
to express something of the mystery and 
wonder described upon the bill-board. 

If the American circus is the delight of 
all the children and many of their elders 
as well, then the elephant is the very centre 
and circumference of the whole show. He 
is the chief figure in that great glittering 
pageant, the street parade. If the chil¬ 
dren feel strange thrills at the sound of 
the stirring circus bands, if they gaze in 
wonderment at the strange people in the 
parade, if their spinal columns feel de¬ 
licious thrills of fear at the cages of wild 
animals, yet it is reserved for the elephants 
to register perfect ecstasy in the childish 
heart. The elephant is mighty, he steps 
with such stately tread, and there is such 


THE MIGHTY PACHYDERM 11 


an air of mystery about his driver that he 
at onee strikes twelve in the ehildish mind. 
From the elephants, the parade gradually 
fades away to the vanishing point. 

This being the case, is it not wise to 
preface this book with a short sketch of 
the elephant family, especially as there 
will be some important facts included in 
this introduction which will not be touched 
upon in the main portion of the story? 

The elephant family has been in the 
past very important, and a very large 
family. There are about fourteen distinct 
species found in fossils and in prehistoric 
rocks. But now the family has dwindled 
to two species: the African and the Asiatic 
elephant. 

Of these, the African is slightly the 
larger and much the more untamable. 
There are very few cases of African ele- 


12 


JUNGLE JOE 


phants fully domesticated. Jumbo, so 
long loved and admired by children, was 
the notable exception. The African ele¬ 
phant is usually rather taller and more 
rangy than the Asiatic, and his tusks are 
heavier. Also his ears are much larger, 
sometimes measuring three and a half 
feet in length by two and a half in width. 
Aside from these differences, the two liv¬ 
ing species of the elephant are quite alike. 
But the Asiatic elephant is the one we see 
in circuses and zoos. 

There was another mighty elephant that 
lived upon the earth with primeval man, 
and is most interesting because of that 
fact. He was called the mammoth. A 
fine specimen of this mighty elephant was 
found a few years ago in Siberia frozen 
into a crevice in a glacier. He was so 
well preserved that the tissues of his flesh 


THE MIGHTY PACHYDEKM 13 

were all intact, and even his hair was well 
preserved. 

This mighty elephant was two or three 
feet taller than the very largest elephants 
upon the earth to-day, and he probably 
weighed a half more. So that would make 
him thirteen or fourteen feet high and 
weighing perhaps ten tons. Truly a huge 
beast. 

The other species most commonly found 
in fossils and about which we hear the most 
is the mastodon, that was even larger than 
the mammoth. 

So, as you see, all the members of this 
family have been veritable giants. 

The elephant is very long-lived, even 
in these days, living from seventy-five to 
one hundred and thirty years. No one 
knows how long his life might have been 
in the prehistoric ages. 


t 


14 


JUNGLE JOE 


He goes back to a very distant date in 
the history of man. Elephants were used 
in India in repelling the attacks of Alex¬ 
ander the Great. 

Towers which contained thirty or forty 
bowmen were mounted upon the elephants’ 
backs. But these great animals are rather 
timid in some ways, so they often bolted 
in battle and did their friends quite as 
much damage as they did their enemies. 

Hannibal used elephants in his army 
which crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps 
mountains and so marched down into 
Italy and attacked imperial Rome. The 
elephant, notwithstanding his size, is very 
sure-footed and a very good mountain- 
climber. This is because they formerly 
lived much farther north than they do 
now. So we see that the elephant was 
formerly domesticated and that he went 


THE MIGHTY PACHYDERM 15 


into battle with his master. But, except 
in India, the art of capturing and train¬ 
ing elephants seems to have been lost from 
about the time of the Christian Era till 
within the last century, when the elephant 
again became subservient to man. 

The fact that the elephant once lived 
much farther north accounts in part for 
the theory that he was formerly covered 
with hair, but his living in the tropics has 
caused him to discard it as unnecessary. 

This is probably why a baby elephant 
is born covered with a fine woolly hair, 
which he sheds when he is a few months 
old, and it never returns. 

The female elephant gives birth to a 
baby elephant every three years after she 
is fifteen years old. This occurs until she 
is seventy-five, when she ceases to bear 
young. This would make the average 


IG JUNGLE JOE 

female elephant the mother of from fif¬ 
teen to twenty elephants. 

The elephant does not gain his full size 
and weight until he is about twenty-five. 
When he is born, he is three feet high and 
weighs two hundred pounds. After that 
he grows an inch a month until he is five 
years old. Then the growth is slower. 

The strangest of all the elephant’s 
peculiar organs is his trunk, which one 
scientist says contains forty thousand 
muscles. Certain it is that he can use it 
in many ways. It is so powerful that he 
can lift hundreds of pounds of weight with 
it, and so delicate that he can pick up a 
pin from the floor. It is by means of the 
trunk that the elephant drinks. He can 
also suck in much more water than he 
wants for his immediate use and store it 
up in his water-stomach, which in a full- 


THE MIGHTY PACHYDERM 17 

grown elephant holds ten gallons. This 
makes him a good traveller in waste places 
where water is not plenty. If he has a 
mind to, he can draw the water from his 
stomach into his trunk at any time, and 
take a drink, or even squirt it over him¬ 
self, thus taking a shower-bath. But he 
does not usually waste the extra water 
which he has stored up in that way. 

The elephant’s tusks are formed of den¬ 
tine, a very valuable tooth-covering. They 
are merely greatly elongated upper teeth, 
which in some cases curve down and then 
up at an angle of forty-five degrees. 
These tusks, which form the ivory that 
man prizes so highly, in the case of the 
African elephant often weigh two hundred 
pounds. 

The ivory in a large set of tusks is worth 
hundreds of dollars, and sometimes even 


/ 


18 


JUNGLE JOE 


one or two thousand dollars. So the 
tuskers, as they are called, which are the 
bulls with the largest tusks, are usually 
shot as soon as they are captured. This is 
for two reasons. First, they are more 
valuable for ivory than for show purposes, 
and second, they are often rather hard to 
break, being stubborn. 

Quite frequently a male elephant be¬ 
comes estranged from the herd. He lives 
by himself and shuns the rest of the ele¬ 
phants. After a time, he becomes very 
morose and is a dangerous animal for a 
hunter to meet. Such an elephant is 
called a rogue. 

The elephant has probably always been 
tamed in India where he is a sacred ani¬ 
mal. The white elephant, especially, is 
regarded with great veneration. Also 
the twenty-toed elephant brings a fabulous 


THE MIGHTY PACHYDERM 19 


price among the Indian princes. The 
usual complement of toes for the elephant 
is eighteen. 

There was one white elephant in India 
many centuries ago which was so highly 
prized that two rival kingdoms got to wag¬ 
ing war over him, and this war lasted for 
five generations of kings and cost thou¬ 
sands of lives. 

The most dangerous thing about the 
elephant is his liability to must. This is 
a strange disease to which he is subject, 
and which makes him mad while it lasts. 
But its coming can be detected if the 
elephant-keeper is careful, so trouble can 
always be avoided. In the cheek-bones of 
the elephant there are two small holes 
from which flows a slight secretion. When 
the elephant is about to be taken with 
must, this vent gives off a fluid and also 


20 


JUNGLE JOE 


a musty odor. The elephant-keeper should 
each day make an inspection of this vent 
with a straw. If he discovers the musty 
smell, he should at once take preventive 
measures. 

If the elephant is immediately hobbled, 
and then chained up he can do no damage. 
Usually the attack will pass after a while. 
But occasionally an elephant becomes so 
violent that he has to be shot. 

The elephant’s memory is marvelous. 
A doctor once lanced the foot of an ele¬ 
phant, thus relieving him of great pain. 
Sixteen years passed and the man and the 
beast did not meet again. One day the 
elephant was parading in a certain city, 
when he stopped all of a sudden and going 
up to the sidewalk put out his trunk to 
salute the surgeon who had lanced his foot 
sixteen years before. 


THE MIGHTY PACHYDERM 21 


In Siam he is used in the lumber-yards 
and is a great lumber-piler. 

The elephant has always furnished 
much sport for the princes in India, where 
he is used to hunt tigers. The men ride 
on the great beast’s back and shoot the 
tiger from this vantage-ground. 

A domesticated elephant is also often 
used in capturing wild elephants. 

But all these stirring pictures of the 
elephant in tiger hunts, taking part in 
elephant-drives, and piling lumber are 
scenes of the Orient and far removed from 
our United States. Here we know the 
elephant as a show animal and the pride 
of the circus. True, he can when occasion 
requires put on a harness and draw a 
circus-wagon out of the mud when six 
horses have failed to start it, but he is 
usually seen marching along in the parade 


22 


JUNGLE JOE 


with stately tread, or quietly eating hay in 
the animal tent. If he is very clever, he 
will come into the circus ring and do 
tricks that are fairly marvelous. But in 
these he does not use as much reason as 
we often think. They are more the result 
of months of patient training on the part 
of the trainer and a fine memory on the 
part of the pachyderm. 

So I think it is as the circus favorite 
that we shall still have to know the ele¬ 
phant, the great feature in the parade, and 
the giant of all the circus wonders. 

In this book, however, the author will 
take the reader to the jungle and the plain 
where the elephant lives and where he is 
captured, and show how he is brought 
from the wild, and tamed and taught 
tricks, until he becomes the very central 
figure in the American Circus. 


JUNGLE JOE, 
PRIDE of the CIRCUS 


CHAPTER I 

BABY ELEPHANT 

Baby Elephant was born under a 
broad spreading blackwood-tree at the 
edge of the great jungle in the Malay 
Peninsula. So, you see, he was an Asiatic 
elephant. 

Baby Elephant’s mother had chosen his 
birthplace with great care and judgment. 
The wild mothers are always wise con¬ 
cerning their young. It was shady and 
cool under the blackwood-tree, and there 
was plenty of underbrush to shield them 

from curious eyes, not that they needed 

23 


24 


JUNGLE JOE 


greatly to be shielded, for the scent of the 
elephant is enough to strike terror to the 
heart of almost any of the jungle-dwellers, 
but it was well to be on the safe side. 
At the time Baby Elephant was born, his 
mother was fifty years old, but, as you 
have already learned, this is not an ex¬ 
treme age for elephants. 

Baby Elephant’s life for the first few 
weeks was very simple. The great herd 
to which he belonged and of which his 
mother was leader, slept in the daytime 
and fed by night. So when the tropical 
sun beat down over the plains with scorch¬ 
ing heat, the elephants would go into the 
cool deep jungle and lie down in the shade 
to sleep; but when the sun had disap¬ 
peared and the mellow moonlight flooded 
the plains, they came forth to graze. 
Baby Elephant’s mother usually left him 


BABY ELEPHANT 


25 


in the jungle, hidden away in some secure 
spot when she went forth to feed. Baby 
Elephant’s own meals were very easily 
obtained. He simply took his fill of ele¬ 
phant-milk at his mother’s udders, just 
behind her forelegs, whenever he was 
hungry. While taking his meal, he had 
to curl his trunk up along his mother’s 
side to keep it out of the way. 

Baby Elephant himself was a perfectly 
formed elephant, even at birth. Just like 
his mother and the rest of the herd, only 
very small, for while he weighed only two 
hundred pounds his mother weighed over 
five tons. 

Baby Elephant was a very playful, 
inquisitive jungle baby and his inquisitive¬ 
ness often got him into trouble. When he 
was about a month old he attempted to 
chew his mother’s ear one day when she was 


26 


JUNGLE JOE 


lying down, and when she poked him away 
with her trunk he did not take the hint but 
went back to this new game again and 
again. Finally his mother tired of the 
sport and gave him such a push with her 
trunk that he went sprawling. 

About the only times Baby Elephant 
left the jungle during the first weeks of his 
life were when he went to the water-hole 
to drink. At first he did not seem to know 
how to drink, but he watched his mother 
put her trunk in the water and fill it and 
then squirt the water into her mouth, and 
so Baby Elephant soon learned the trick. 
The mother elephant would also squirt the 
water over her body, giving herself a fine 
shower-bath. She treated Baby Elephant 
in the same way, much to his disgust at 
first, but he soon learned to like the 
shower-bath. 


BABY ELEPHANT 


27 


Among the worst things that Baby 
Elephant had to endure during his first 
summer were the swarms of fiies and 
mosquitoes. He did not much mind them 
on his skin, but they stung his eyes and 
nearly made him blind. Each day when he 
went to the water-hole his mother used to 
plunge his head under the water. At 
first he did not understand what she was 
doing it for and was much grieved at be¬ 
ing so treated, but he finally saw that it 
was to wash the flies and mosquitoes away 
from his eyes and to cleanse them. 

Like all wilderness babies. Baby Ele¬ 
phant was taught strict obedience. This 
applied especially to his staying just 
where his mother had secreted him when 
she went to feed in the night. Usually he 
was very good in this particular. She 
could come back after many long hours 


/ 


28 


JUNGLE JOE 


and find him just where she had left him. 
But one night he transgressed his mother’s 
command and came to grief. 

He had usually slept while his mother 
was away but this night he was not sleepy 
and felt very curious and mischievous. 
There were many strange sounds in the 
jungle about him and he wondered what 
they meant. At first he tried to sleep, 
but sleep would not come to him, so 
finally he got up and began wandering 
around. Every few minutes he would re¬ 
turn to the spot where his mother had left 
him, for he knew it was not right to leave 
it. But gradually he grew bolder and 
went farther into the jungle. Finally he 
went so far that he became lost, and then 
he wandered around and around trying to 
find his way back. Once he encountered 
a wild boar which rushed past him in the 


BABY ELEPHANT 29 

underbrush. At last, when it was be¬ 
ginning to grow light in the east and he 
had become very lonely and fearful, he 
encountered a strange figure in the jungle 
path ahead of him. It was that of a long, 
live cat with phosphorus eyes and gleam¬ 
ing teeth and lashing tail. While Baby 
Elephant still stood staring at her. 
Spotted Leopard leapt full upon his back 
and sank her sharp claws into his side. 
Baby Elephant gave one painful, fright¬ 
ened squeak, which was as near as he 
could come to trumpeting, and bolted 
through the underbrush, being barely able 
to run under the weight of the leopard, 
which was itself not full-grown, or it 
never would have molested a young ele¬ 
phant. 

As good luck would have it. Baby Ele¬ 
phant’s mother had been trailing him for 


30 


JUNGLE JOE 


an hour just previous to this catastrophe, 
and in answer to his agonized trumpet 
came crashing through the underbrush. 
The leopard saw her before Baby Ele¬ 
phant did, and made its escape, while the 
young elephant ran trembling to his 
mother. For several days after that mis¬ 
hap he fairly hugged his mother’s side, 
and he never again wandered away from 
the hiding-place. 

One other mishap he had during that 
first summer, but this was not very serious. 
His mother had been feeding near the 
water-hole and supposed that Baby Ele¬ 
phant was tagging after her, but instead 
he was exploring the water-hole. He 
waded around and around in several new 
places where his mother had never taken 
him, and finally became mired and caught 
in a sort of quicksand. Struggle as he 


BABY ELEPHANT 


31 


would, he could not get out, so he lifted 
up his trunk and trumpeted pitifully. 
His mountainous mother, whose maternal 
love seemed just as tender notwithstand¬ 
ing her great bulk, came running to his 
assistance. She waded in and wrapping 
her trunk about him pulled him from the 
quicksand and brought him back to safety. 

During the latter part of the summer 
when Baby Elephant’s first set of teeth 
were forming, he learned to nibble at the 
tender shoots on sugar-cane and bamboo 
tops and also at the plantain. Bamboo, 
sugar-cane, plantain, and certain tree- 
roots form most of the diet of the full- 
grown elephant, and in time they became 
that of Baby Elephant. 

The young elephant early learned that 
his trunk was the most valuable member 
that he had. The end of the trunk is so 


32 


JUNGLE JOE 




fashioned that an elephant can reach down 
with the upper side and up with the lower 
side and use it as a hand. But the ele¬ 
phant is very careful of his trunk and 
when fighting holds it straight up. Most 
of his fighting he does with his tusks. 
Baby Elephant was the cause of a strik¬ 
ing example of what a male elephant can 
do with his tusks when opportunity offers. 
Baby Elephant’s mother and his sire were 
one day making their way through the 
jungle when they came upon a mighty 
Bengal tiger. The tiger had just killed 
a deer and was eating it directly in 
the pathway of the elephants. As the big 
bull elephant that was leading the little 
band approached, the tiger bared its fangs 
and snarled and refused to give way to the 
lord of the jungle. This so infuriated the 
elephant that he charged, head down, and 


BABY ELEPHANT 


33 


caught the tiger fairly on his tusks. With 
a mighty upward movement of his head, 
he sent the tiger thirty feet into the tree- 
tops, and when this tiger came down, the 
fight had all gone out of him, and he slunk 
away in great haste. 

Thus it was, sleeping in the jungle by 
day, and staying in hiding at night while 
the adult elephants fed on the plains, that 
Baby Elephant spent his first summer. 
But as the weeks passed and he grew 
larger and was weaned, he finally went 
with the herd when they fed at night, and 
this made him feel that he was really one 
of them. He had never quite outgrown 
his curiosity or his playfulness, however, 
for he was still a baby elephant. 


CHAPTER II 


THE JUNGLE FOLK 

The jungle folk were a strange and 
varied comj)any, ranging all the way 
from the black langur, the small monkey 
that swung, chattered, scolded, and swore 
in the tree-tops, to the great Bengal tiger 
that skulked in the underbrush and sought 
his meat wherever he could find it. The 
black langur was a noisy mischievous fel¬ 
low, and his cry of “Wah! wah! wah!” 
followed by a “ Hoo-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo! ” 
was always ringing through the jungle. 
He tormented the birds and even followed 
after the great tiger, hooting and swear¬ 
ing at him from the tree-tops whenever 
he appeared in the jungle. But as all the 

jungle folk hated the tiger, no one cared. 

34 


THE JUNGLE FOLK 


35 


There are three sorts of tiger, all belong¬ 
ing to the same species, the game-killer, 
the cattle-killer, and the man-eater. The 
tiger most often seen in Baby Elephant’s 
jungle was an enormous man-eater. 

Baby Elephant, in time, learned to 
know all the jungle folk, some of whom 
he liked and some he hated, but he was 
curious about them all. His inquisitive 
trunk went poking about in many strange 
places and often got its owner into sad 
adventures. But, as Baby Elephant’s 
hide was very thick, he could not be badly 
bitten, and as his bones were well covered 
with flesh, they did not break easily, and 
so he survived all his adventures. Besides, 
the fact that he was an elephant was in 
itself partial protection for him. 

You have already heard of Baby Ele¬ 
phant’s sorry adventure when he ran away 


36 


JUISTGLE JOE 


from the spot where his mother had hid¬ 
den him and was clawed by a young 
leopard. From that hour Baby Elephant 
hated all leopards, both spotted and black. 

The leopard is a sleek and beautiful 
member of the cat family, about two- 
thirds the size of the American mountain 
lion. He is a great hunter, and is fond 
of lying upon an overhanging limb and 
falling like a thunderbolt upon his prey 
when it passes beneath. Woe to the black 
buck that comes within striking distance 
of this dread hunter! 

Baby Elephant and his mother wit¬ 
nessed a thrilling battle one morning when 
Baby Elephant was about three months 
old. They had just come back from the 
plains where they had been feeding the 
night before and were lying in a dense 
portion of the jungle, sleeping with the 


THE JU^^GLE FOLK 


37 


rest of the herd, when they were aroused 
by a mighty commotion from Black Lan¬ 
gur and his noisy comi3any. Birds were 
also joining in the general alarm, so Baby 
Elephant’s mother arose silently and stole 
away noiselessly through the jungle to see 
what it was all about. She did not intend 
that Baby Elephant should follow her, 
but he did. Presently they came to an 
open spot in the jungle which was quite 
free from trees, and there in the centre 
of this amphitheatre a terrible battle was 
going on. Baby Elephant’s mother thrust 
her head out through the overhanging 
branches so she could see it and Baby 
Elephant himself watched from between 
her forelegs. The trees surrounding the 
battle-ground were fairly alive with mon¬ 
keys, screaming and shouting and seem¬ 
ingly urging on the combatants. 


38 


JUNGLE JOE 


Right in the middle of the amphitheatre 
Spotted Leopard and Baba-rusa, the wild 
boar, were engaged in deadly battle. This 
wild pig was quite different from the 
domestic pig. He was taller, rangier, and 
without any superfluous fat. His tusks 
were more fully developed, and his move¬ 
ments were like lightning. Altogether he 
is a desperate fighter and a match for any 
tiger. Spotted Leopard and Wild Boar 
were facing each other, sparring for posi¬ 
tion. The big cat would suddenly spring 
and seek to rake the boar across the face 
with deadly claws, but instead would meet 
Wild Boar’s broad shoulder and perhaps 
get a rip in her side from his sharp tusks. 
Again and again the infuriated cat sprang 
but did little damage. Around and around 
Wild Boar she circled, trying to get be¬ 
hind him and jump upon his back, but 


THE JUNGLE FOLK 


39 


he always faced her with his gleaming 
tusks. Faster and more furious the battle 
raged, while the monkeys screamed with 
delight. Twice the great cat got in a rak¬ 
ing blow in Baba-rusa’s face, but he 
slashed her in return each time. Finally 
the leopard became furious and sprang 
full upon Wild Boar’s head. There was 
a wild squeal from the pig, and a yell of 
pain from the great cat, as the two com¬ 
batants rolled upon the ground. Finally, 
with great agility, Wild Boar sprang to 
his feet and ripped the still prostrate 
leopard half the length of her belly. She 
struggled feebly for a few moments and 
then stretched out dead, while the badly 
lacerated boar limped away into the deep 
jungle, grunting with satisfaction. 

Orang-outang, the monkey, whose name 
signifies ‘‘ wild man ” in the Malay Ian- 


40 


JUNGLE JOE 


guage, also frequented Baby Elephant’s 
jungle, although he is a native of Borneo, 
but he usually kept well to the swampy 
part down by the great river, for he 
lived in the water spruces which stood 
knee deep in the river. When Mrs. Wild 
Man was about to give birth to the young, 
the Orang-outangs built themselves a plat¬ 
form high up in the tree-tops. This was 
made by putting boughs across convenient 
crotches in the tree, and then covering the 
platform with fine twigs, making a com¬ 
fortable nest. Here, the little Orang¬ 
outangs were born. Mr. Wild Man was 
a dangerous fellow. He had a broad back 
and chest like a prize-fighter; his arms, 
when spread out, measured ten feet, six 
inches, from finger-tip to finger-tip. 
They were so long that his hands hung 
down well below his knees. His legs were 


THE JUI^iGLE FOLK 


41 


short and thick; his head was rather small, 
but his jaws were heavy and armed with 
very strong canine teeth. He was covered 
with coarse reddish-brown hair. The orang¬ 
outang is so strong that he can bend the 
ordinary inch iron bars in a wild-animal 
cage like jackstraws. Baby Elephant 
saw the Orang-outangs frequently when 
he and his mother came down to the great 
river to drink. 

There were other creatures that came 
occasionally to Baby Elephant’s jungle, 
but they were more often seen upon the 
great plains. These creatures always 
walked upon their hind legs, and some of 
them even carried the dreadful thunder- 
stick which could speak to the jungle 
people in such a terrible voice that they 
would lie down at its command and die. 
Most of these IMalays were armed with 


42 


jujstgle joe 


spears and bows, which were not so deadly 
as the thunder-stick. But occasionally a 
sahib or white man came among them and 
he always carried a thunder-stick. Even 
the natives were very cunning in setting 
traps for the jungle folk, but it was not 
until Sahib Anderson from the United 
States came with fifty natives to Baby 
Elephant’s jungle to capture wild animals 
for the dealers at Singaj)ore that the real 
troubles for the jungle folk began. 

When Sahib Anderson and his fifty 
jungle-beaters finally descended upon the 
jungle where the elephant herd usually 
spent the day resting and sleeping, great 
consternation reigned among the jungle 
folk. 

Baby Elephant’s mother, the leader of 
the herd and always on the watch, was the 
first to discover their coming. She arose 


THE JUNGLE FOLK 43 

and stood listening for several minutes. 
Baby Elephant himself followed her ex¬ 
ample. He usually did most of the things 
he saw his mother do. He did not detect 
the faint, far-away sounds, but the old ele¬ 
phant did. Her command to the herd for 
a silent and noiseless retreat was not given 
by any audible sound. 

Probably the command was communi¬ 
cated from elephant to elephant by signs, 
or perhaps it was telepathic, but I think 
the former was the case. But certain it 
was that the great herd of perhaps sixty 
head began moving silently through the 
thick jungle, all going in the same direc¬ 
tion, although they could not see each 
other. The silence with which this move¬ 
ment can be executed is astonishing to 
even a hunter who is versed in the ways 
of the wild. The adult elephants were ten 


44 


JUNGLE JOE 


feet in height and weighed around five 
tons each, yet they went almost without 
the breaking of a twig. This was partly 
due to the fact that their large feet are 
well cushioned, and all sounds smothered 
under them. 

Mr. William T. Hornaday tells of com¬ 
ing upon a large herd in India. He 
was within fifty yards of the herd before 
he was discovered by a female elephant, 
one of the outposts. This elephant stood 
perfectly still watching the hunter for sev¬ 
eral minutes, while he in turn watched her. 
Finally she turned and slowly walked 
away into the jungle. The hunter found 
to his great astonishment that while she 
had been watching him she had probably 
given the command to the herd to retreat, 
and all had disappeared without making 
an audible sound. 


THE JUJS^GLE FOLK: 45 

With the coming of Sahib Anderson, 
the elephant herd moved five miles down 
the bank of the great river to a still more 
dense portion of the jungle. 

Baba-rusa, the wild boar, next discov¬ 
ered the coming of the jungle hunters, and 
led his herd of twenty-five members five 
miles up the river. 

The leopards, both the spotted and the 
black, skulked away and hid in the deepest 
portions of the jungle where they were 
comparatively safe. The black bear also 
fled, but Black Langur held his ground, 
although he kept at a safe distance in the 
tree-tops. Yet he did not disguise his 
presence, but set up a great din from time 
to time, so that the forest fairly rang 
with his ‘‘Wah! wah! wah! Hoo-oo, 
hoo-oo! ” 

Finally it became apparent to the mon- 


46 


JUNGLE JOE 


keys that the hunters were pursuing Man- 
Eater, the great tiger, and followed him 
from one portion of the jungle to an¬ 
other. All hated the tiger, so this was 
well. 

Soon Black Langur lost his fear of the 
men creatures and followed along in the 
tree-tops, watching the progress of the 
hunt. He also joined in it himself. He 
was too worthless for a native to waste a 
spear or a poisoned arrow upon, so he 
grinned down at them through the 
branches, his white-whiskered face screwed 
up into a diabolical grimace. 

But Black Langur and his people were 
perfectly willing to follow along in the 
tree-tops and help the men rout out the 
tiger. So no matter where the tiger hid, 
these chattering, howling imps always 
spied him out and soon with their yell of 


THE JUNGLE FOLK 47 

“Wah! wah! wah! Hoo-oo, hoo-oo!” 
brought the hunters. 

The truth was that the great man-eater 
had committed several terrible attacks 
upon a native village near by in open day¬ 
light. His ravages had become so bad 
that the Malays had besought Sahib An¬ 
derson to help them in the hunt. This he 
had consented to do. So all were after 
the great tiger. Several of the natives 
carried the deadly thunder-stick, although 
most were armed with spears or bows and 
arrows. But all were furious at the tiger 
and determined to get him at any cost. 

Finally the great man-eater was driven 
from the jungle and took refuge upon a 
hillock on the plains. This particular 
hillock was thickly covered with small 
trees, so that he was well screened, and 
the jungle-beaters did not dare to go in 


48 


JUNGLE JOE 


after him. So the Sahib gave orders for 
the party to encamp in a circle around the 
hill. Very soon the men creatures started 
a circle of the red flower which they call 
fire. 

The mighty tiger glaring at his pursuers 
from his stronghold saw the circle of the 
red flower dancing and leaping all about 
him, and a great fear filled him. For 
three days and nights they drove him 
deeper and deeper into his retreat. The 
men creatures constantly threw brands 
from the camp-fires into the unkindled 
circle where the great beast cowered. 

Finally he was driven to his last hiding- 
place. He was gasping and choking with 
the smoke. His whiskers were singed off 
and he was tormented with thirst. At last 
the flames came so close that he made a 
break for freedom. But he had not taken 


. THE JUNGLE FOLK 49 

two bounds when the thunder-stick of the 
Sahib spoke to him in terrible tones and 
he stretched out dead. His killing of men, 
women, and children was over, and the 
other animals also felt relieved. 

Then the Sahib and the natives brought 
very heavy steel traps and set them in the 
favorite lair of his mate, and three days 
later she was caught. They let her stay 
in the traps for three days until she was 
very hungry, then brought a heavy cage 
and placed it close to her and threw a dead 
chicken in the farther end. The tigress 
dragged her traps into the cage. Then 
the hunters slipped up and secured her, 
and she was ready for her long trip to 
the American zoo or circus. As she was 
soon to have baby tigers, her capture was 
hailed with joy. 

The next of the jungle folk to fall cap- 


50 


JUNGLE JOE 


tive at the hands of the Sahib was Orang¬ 
outang, or Wild Man. 

This Wild Man was walking along by 
the great river very early one morning, 
looking for his breakfast, when he esj)ied 
a generous bunch of plantains dangling 
from a bush. He had never noticed any 
plantains there before, but suspicion did 
not even enter his mind. All the jungle 
folk were entirely unsuspicious of traps. 
So Orang-outang reached out greedily 
with his long arm. He had not noticed 
that a small tree four or five inches in 
diameter had been bent down above the 
plantains. Even if he had, this probably 
would not have frightened him. He had 
never had any experience with the tricks 
of men. 

He seized the fruit and pulled vigor¬ 
ously upon it, when snap, swish, up sprang 


THE JUNGLE FOLK 


51 


the tree, and a treacherous copper-wire 
noose which had been hidden in the bush 
caught Mr. Wild Man around his middle 
and swung him aloft. He was left ten 
feet from the ground, dangling, thrashing, 
and howling with rage. Even this would 
not have been final had it not been for the 
peculiar way in which he had been caught. 
For as luck would have it, the noose 
pinioned one of his strong arms to his side 
when he swung up. Otherwise he would 
have climbed the noose to the tree above 
and been free in ten seconds. But here 
he was held powerless with his strong right 
arm pinned to his side. 

His roars of rage soon brought Black 
Langur chattering in the tops of the trees 
near by. 

Wild Man’s rage was terrible, but all 
he could do was to roar and thrash. 


52 


JUNGLE JOE 


Finally, after half an hour, he wore out 
his great strength and the jungle folk 
thought him dead. A few hours later, the 
Sahib and his men took him down and put 
him in a small rattan cage. 

The cage was made so small that Wild 
Man could not get a purchase on its bars, 
otherwise he would have torn it to bits, 
and he was a prisoner. He was then used 
as a decoy and his mate was caught in the 
same manner. 

Some of the traps which Sahib Ander¬ 
son and his Malay hunters used were very 
simple, but very effective. For who of 
the jungle folk has ever heard of bird¬ 
lime? This is a very sticky substance, a 
sort of gum, from a tree. It is more 
sticky than mucilage and more adhesive 
than glue. 

But it is very effective, if the poor jun- 


THE JUNGLE FOLK 


53 


gle folk get into it. Even large animals 
are captured by its use. 

Baby Elephant and his mother were 
feeding one day in the very heart of the 
jungle when Black Leopard came walk¬ 
ing stealthily down one of the jungle 
trails. As Baby Elephant was with his 
mother he was not afraid. So he stood 
watching Black Leopard curiously as.he 
came. 

Presently the great cat began stepping 
very daintily. Then it gave vent to a 
series of spits and sprang into the air with 
a loud yowl, and it rolled over and over on 
the ground. 

Baby Elephant was very curious about 
Black Leopard, and he instinctively knew 
that he was in trouble. But a very queer 

V 

thing had happened to the leopard. When 
he had first begun to step daintily, it was 


54 


JUNGLE JOE 


because the leaves and dirt upon the 
ground were sticking to his paws. Now 
as he rolled over and over on the ground 
he was covered with leaves and small 
twigs. 

The faster he spun, the worse his plight 
became. Presently he stopped and began 
licking his paws, but his tongue stuck to 
his paws, so that he could hardly pull it 
off. This made him frantic, and he began 
whirling about again. For hours he al¬ 
ternately licked himself and rolled and 
leapt. Finally he lay down utterly ex¬ 
hausted. So when the Sahib came by he 
could rope him without much difficulty 
and put him in a strong cage. Thus it was, 
one by one, that the jungle folk found their 
way into the Sahib’s cages. 

' Strange and beautifully colored tropical 
birds were also caught with the fatal bird- 


THE JIIN^GLE FOLK 


55 


lime which was smeared upon their fa¬ 
vorite roosts. 

A bird would alight upon a harmless- 
looking branch only to find when he tried 
to fly away that his feet stuck to it. He 
would struggle and flap, and his cries soon 
brought others. These in turn alighted by 
his side and were also caught and held 
fast. There they stayed flapping miser¬ 
ably until the Sahib or some of his helpers 
took them away. 

Black Langur had thought he was 
immune. No one could capture him. 

Yet he guessed wrong. For soon a 
number of large-mouthed bottles appeared 
in the jungle. Each bottle held a rag 
which had been soaked with sugar. We 
know that monkeys are very fond of sugar, 
so soon a black imp would put his small 
hand into the mouth of the bottle for the 


56 


JUISTGLE JOE 


sugar-soaked rag. When he had seized 
the rag he could not pull out his hand. 
He did not have sense enough to let go 
the rag, so there he stuck till the Sahib’s 
men came for him. The bottle was se¬ 
curely tied to a tree. 

Then the men would tickle a large nerve 
on the monkey’s elbow, or as the children 
say, would touch his crazy-bone, and he 
would let go the rag and his hand would 
come out of the bottle. But he was then 
a prisoner. 

And, strange to say, the monkey did not 
learn the secret of this simple trap. 

But it was not until the Sahib made his 
mesh corrals and made drives of the 
jungles that he secured large numbers of 
the jungle folk. 

These corrals were made of rattan, 
which was woven in and out at some point 


THE JUNGLE FOLK 


57 


where the jungle was very dense. The 
rattans were woven in this manner until 
they had made a network perhaps fifty 
feet in diameter, with two wings extend¬ 
ing out from it. It was much like a seine 
net in which fish are caught. When every¬ 
thing was in readiness, the jungle-beaters 
would form in a half-circle and beat the 
jungle for a mile, driving all before them. 
In this way they caught Black Buck and 
his mate, two beautiful plain antelopes. 
They also caught a baby tapir and its 
mother. This is a peculiar animal with a 
strange snout, something like the ele¬ 
phant’s. It is dark above and light below, 
and the baby tapir had stripes on his sides. 

Civet-cats and other small animals were 
caught. These were taken from the cor¬ 
rals in a very clever manner. A piece of 
bamboo was cut six feet long. This was 


58 


JUNGLE JOE 


hollow, and a long piece of doubled rattan 
was passed through it. The man held the 
two ends of the rattan in his right hand, 
and the end of the bamboo in his left. He 
let the loop upon the rattan stick through 
the end of the bamboo for a foot or so. 
Just enough to slip over the head of the 
civet-cat. It was then drawn tight over 
the small cat’s neck and its head held 
against the end of the bamboo while it 
was lifted from the corral and put into a 
cage. 

Thus it was that one by one the jungle 
folk saw their numbers diminish and their 
companions go away in Sahib Anderson’s 
strong cages. But where they went or 
what became of them they did not know. 
All they knew was that they never saw 
them again. 

Nearly all came under the Sahib’s spell 


THE JUNGLE FOLK 


59 


but the great elephant herd, and this 
mighty herd was composed of such giants 
that no one would have even dreamed that 
Sahib could capture them. But who can 
tell what a Sahib can do, when he has 
such strange powers with the thunder- 
stick! Although Baby Elephant and his 
mother and all the rest of the great herd 
of sixty elephants felt very secure, yet 
their turn was to come. The Sahib was 
making his plans. Soon he would reach 
out with his mighty arm, which seems so 
weak, yet is so terrible, and capture nearly 
all the herd. For elephants were no more 
to the Sahib than were the rest of the 
jungle folk. He was the master of them 
all. When he said, ‘‘ Come,” they came, 
even from the heart of the jungle. Yes, 
the power of the Sahib was terrible! 


CHAPTER III 


THE GREAT DRIVE 

Sahib Anderson laid his plans for the 
famous elephant-drive with great care 
and skill. Full well he knew the hazard 
to both life and limb that the enterprise 
held. The Malays who helped him were 
not so well versed in the sport as he, but 
even if they had known the danger they 
would probably have taken the risk, for 
life is held of small worth in the Orient. 

The Sahib’s greatest difficulty was in 
getting the natives to work, for the aver¬ 
age Malay is probably the laziest person 
in the whole world. This is especially true 
when his stomach is full. If he has just 

eaten he will say, “ I have eaten! I am 

60 


THE GREAT DRIVE 


61 


satisfied. Why should I work for to¬ 
morrow? I may die to-night. If Allah 
allows me to live through the night, I will 
work for to-morrow’s food when to-mor¬ 
row comes.” 

His needs are very few. Just a small 
patch of rice and the fish that swarm in 
the great rivers suffice for him. Even his 
fishing he does in the laziest manner, 
usually putting lime into the river and 
causing the fish to rise to the top of the 
water and die. Then he paddles about and 
picks them up at his leisure. 

It was only by representing to the na¬ 
tives that elephant-driving was a great 
game, a wonderful sport, that the Sahib 
was finally enabled to get the desired hun¬ 
dred men. In this work he was much 
aided by Omar, a petty Malay prince, 
who drafted some of his own followers. 


G2 


JUNGLE JOE 


Always conspicuous among the elephant- 
drivers was little Ali, the Prince’s eight- 
year-old son. Vainly the Sahib protested 
that it was no sort of a place for a small 
boy. The Prince always shook his head. 
“ He my shadow,” he would exclaim 
laconically. “ You cannot keep your 
shadow at home. He go where I go.” 

“ But it is very dangerous work,” per¬ 
sisted the Sahib. “ The boy might get 
killed.” 

Again the Prince shook his head. “ He 
not get killed. No animal touch him. 
He got a charm. He swim in the river 
and the crocodile come up and smell him 
and no bite him. He all right.” 

The small boy fairly worshipped the 
Sahib. He was always standing by watch¬ 
ing the white man whenever he was al¬ 
lowed to. He and his father Omar could 


THE GKEAT DEIVE 


63 


both speak a little English which they had 
picked up from an Englishman who had 
hunted tigers in the vicinity the year be¬ 
fore and lived with the Prince’s family. 
So Sahib Anderson and the small boy got 
on famously. 

Ali was filled with wonder at the power 
of the Sahib’s thunder-stick. His com¬ 
pass, his maps, his watch, and his books 
all spelled magic to the eyes of the Malay 
youth. Ali was always asking questions, 
many of which made the Sahib laugh, and 
as he was in need of laughter at the time 
he was usually glad to see the lad. 

The Sahib first had fifty of his drivers 
locate the great elephant herd which was 
led by Baby Elephant’s mother. When 
they had done this, they took great care 
not to frighten them, but drove them 
around in a circle, so that they did not 


64 


JUNGLE JOE 


stray far from the locality. This driving 
they did by merely shouting and beating 
on tom-toms, but always keeping out of 
sight. If an elephant herd either sees or 
smells a man it will always stampede, and 
a stampeding herd of elephants is just a 
• little short of a passing tornado; nearly 
everything in its path is broken down and 
trodden into bits. 

So while the fifty drivers kept the ele¬ 
phants going around in a circle, the other 
fifty set to work to build the corral into 
which they were to be driven. This was 
most arduous work, as they had to cut a 
lot of trees fifteen inches through, and had 
only their parangs or great knives with 
which to cut them. 

When the requisite number of trees had 
been cut, the Sahib selected a place in the 
jungle where it was very heavily timbered. 


THE GREAT DRIVE 


65 


and here he marked out a circle of seventy- 
five feet in diameter and then began set¬ 
ting five feet apart in this circle the trees 
which he had cut, taking care to include 
as many of the standing trees as possible. 

The posts were set five feet deep and 
the dirt tamped very thoroughly about 
them. The Sahib also took great pains not 
to disturb the appearance of the jungle. 
When the trees had been set, each was 
braced with three smaller trees on the out¬ 
side. Bamboo was then laced between the 
posts and they were securely lashed to¬ 
gether with large ropes made of twisted 
rattan. Then leaves were woven all 
through the structure so as to make it 
look natural. 

At the entrance a great drop-gate was 
made, and it was held aloft by rattan 
ropes. Two wings were then built run- 


66 


JUNGLE JOE 


niiig from the entrance, being fifty feet 
apart at the farther end and converging 
at the gate. 

When all was in readiness, several 
Malay priests dedicated the corral with an 
odd ceremony. They went several hun¬ 
dred yards into the jungle and advanced 
towards the corral singing a strange chant. 
When they arrived at the enclosure they 
entered and killed a cock and sprinkled his 
blood upon the ground inside. This was 
to insure the success of the drive. 

When everything was in readiness, the 
Sahib posted the fifty men who had been 
at work upon the corral in trees forming 
a double avenue from the herd, which by 
this time was rather restless. This double 
avenue led from the herd towards the cor¬ 
ral. These men were to guide the drive 
by their shouts to the fifty men who were 


THE GKEAT DRIVE 67 

doing the driving, as the drive was to be 
made in utter darkness. The jungle was 
as dense as thick standing trees and in¬ 
terlacing vines could make it. It was full 
of pitfalls and bog-holes. 

Presently from the very depths of the 
jungle there floated out on the stillness 
the solemn hoot of a great owl. It was 
an eerie sound and a call of great import 
to the jungle-drivers, for it was the Sahib’s 
signal to begin the drive. The call was 
taken up by the natives in the tree-tops, 
and it passed down the avenue of waiting 
men and along the half-circle that partly 
inclosed the restless elephant herd. Then 
from behind the herd and to the right and 
the left came strange sounds. They were 
made by the Malays beating on tom-toms 
and uttering wild, fantastic cries, but to 
Baby Elephant’s mother, the leader and 


68 


JUNGLE JOE 


guardian of the herd, they were inex¬ 
plicable, and they filled her with uneasi¬ 
ness. 

The elephant’s sense of smell and eye¬ 
sight are not of the keenest, but his hear¬ 
ing is very keen and he dislikes noises of 
all sorts. So, when the sounds from be¬ 
hind became a pandemonium, the elephant 
herd moved slowly forward. Baby Ele¬ 
phant’s mother leading the way and Baby 
Elephant keeping close to her side. 
Whenever the herd veered to the right or 
left from a straight line towards the corral, 
the sounds on that side were increased 
and the herd swung back to avoid the 
noise. Thus it was that the drive went 
forward, a few yards or rods at a time in 
the inky darkness. At times the natives 
had to cut their way through the jungle 
with their parangs or great knives, the 


THE GEEAT DRIVE 


69 


tangle was so thick. Mosquitoes and flies 
that stung like hornets bit them at every 
step. Nettles and thorny vines and bushes 
tore their clothing, their hands, and their 
faces. Soon every man in the drive was 
bleeding from a dozen small wounds, and 
still the drive went forward. 

Nor were the elephants and the Malay 
drivers the only dwellers in the jungle that 
night. Baba-rusa and his troop scurried 
away through the jungle at the oncoming 
of the great herd. Spotted Leopard slunk 
away to distant cover; while monkeys 
peered curiously down from their perches 
in the tree-tops above, and startled night- 
birds uttering their eerie calls whirred 
away in the darkness. And still the drive 
went on. Baby Elephant’s mother and 
the rest of the elephant herd were all un¬ 
conscious that they were being driven. 


70 


JUNGLE JOE 


They just knew that strange sounds and 
strange impulses were abroad in the night 
about them, and that they were moving 
steadily forward. 

The herd had been in motion nearly half 
the night but had covered only a mile 
when the tragedy that Sahib Anderson 
had feared occurred. There are always 
small elephants on the outskirts of the 
herd who wander about as sentinels or 
outposts, looking for danger. At about 
two o’clock in the morning, one of these 
sentinels sighted one of the IMalay drivers 
and gave the alarm in a shrill, wild trum¬ 
pet. His call was taken up by the entire 
herd, and in ten seconds’ time all were 
trumpeting, bellowing, and squeaking. 
But that was not all, for with one impulse, 
led by Baby Elephant’s mother, they 
started in a mad stampede through the 



They started in a mad stampede through the jungle 

Page 70. 







i. ' A 





THE GEEAT DRIVE 71 

jungle. Imagine, if you can, a herd of 
sixty elephants, each weighing from four 
to five tons, mad with fear, rushing 
blindly through the jungle. Small trees 
went down like ninepins. They cut a 
swath like that of a cyclone, and the solid 
earth shook with the thunder of their 
mighty feet. There were cries of fear and 
alarm from the Malay drivers, barely 
heard amid the thunder and trumpeting 
of the stampeding herd, which turned 
sharply in its tracks and rushed back along 
the way it had come, not only one mile 
but five. 

When the thunder of the stampeding 
herd had died away in the distance. Sahib 
Anderson and his men lit torches and 
searched the trail of the elephant herd for 
their comrades. 

One of the first whom they discovered 


72 


JIHSTGLE JOB 


was Prince Omar, the father of little Ali. 
He was lying at the foot of a great tree, 
with his life crushed out of him. Ali him¬ 
self stood behind the tree looking wist¬ 
fully down at his father, but there were 
no tears in his eyes and he showed no signs 
of sorrow. 

The Sahib hurried to his side and caught 
the lad up in his arms. “ You poor boy,” 
he said. “ How did it happen? ” 

‘‘ When the herd rush by, a great bull 
see Omar and Ali behind the tree. He 
pick up Omar in his trunk and beat him 
against the tree, and he sleep. Allah is 
good.” 

At these simple and beautiful words 
from the lad, tears filled the Sahib’s eyes. 
“ Where did you ever hear that, boy? ” he 
asked. 

‘‘ It is what the old priest said when my 


THE GKEAT DEIYE 73 

mother died,” returned Ali. “ He said 
Allah was always good.” 

“ But didn’t the bull try to hurt you, 
Ali? ” inquired the Sahib. 

“ He look at me like he strike me with 
his trunk, but I say to him, ' Peace, 
brother, peace,’ and he go away. For that 
was what the priest told me to say to the 
cobra.” 

‘‘ Well, I’ll be blessed,” was all the 
Sahib could say, but he remembered what 
Omar had said about the boy swimming in 
the river, and that the crocodiles would not 
eat him. 

Farther on they found still another dead 
Malay and six wounded. So, the jungle- 
beaters went to the Sahib’s camp and gave 
up the drive for that night. But the fol¬ 
lowing night they were surrounding the 
herd again. All through this night they 


74 


JUNGLE JOE 


drove and were more successful, for they 
recovered three of the five lost miles. The 
following night they gained two more and 
on the third night, to the great joy of all, 
the mighty herd slowly approached the 
entrance of the wings that led to the cor¬ 
ral. All unsuspecting. Baby Elephant’s 
mother led her great herd down the con¬ 
verging wings and into the corral, while 
one after another the herd streamed after 
her. As they began to jam in the wings, 
the drivers increased the noise and the ele¬ 
phants behind shoved those ahead for¬ 
ward. In fifteen minutes from the time 
when Baby Elephant’s mother entered the 
corral, fifty-two of the fifty-six elephants 
were inside and the ropes holding up the 
heavy gate loosed, and the gate fell with 
a mighty thud, spelling the doom of the 
elephant herd. Then the jubilant Malays 


THE GREAT DRIVE 


75 


ascended with the Sahib to the platform 
which had been erected at the top of the 
posts and looked down upon such a sight 
as they had never seen before. Fifty-six 
mountainous animals wedged together 
and helpless in an enclosure only seventy- 
five feet in diameter, where they had been 
trapped, through the great cunning of the 
Sahib and the courage of his men. 

It was a time of great rejoicing for the 
natives, and they feasted and danced for 
a week before the Sahib could get them 
to do any more work. Such an elephant- 
drive had never been seen or even dreamed 
of in their country before, and they in¬ 
tended to make the most of it. It had 
cost them bloodshed and heart-breaking 
toil, and there was every reason why they 
should rejoice now. 


CHAPTER IV 


BREAKING THE WILD ELEPHANT 

With the capture of the great herd, 
the real work of Sahib Anderson and his 
native helpers had just begun. Captur¬ 
ing the elephants had been hard and dan¬ 
gerous work, costing them two lives and 
six wounded men, but the breaking would 
take months. While it might not be so 
dangerous as the capture, yet it was full 
of thrills. 

This will be realized when we consider 
the great size of these elephants and that 
they were furious at being taken in this 
way. 

The very first thing that the Sahib and 

his men did was to cut some holes in the 

bamboo between the posts and coax out 

76 


BEEAKING THE ELEPHANT 77 

the little elephants, that is, those that had 
been born that year, as there was much 
danger that they would be crushed or 
trodden to death in the wild melee inside 
the corral. 

The very first of these youngsters to 
escape from the corral was Baby Ele¬ 
phant, whose fortunes we have been fol¬ 
lowing. He had been separated from his 
mother, wedged in at the very centre of 
the corral, and he was quite frantic at the 
loss of his mother and the great crowding 
and pushing. Never in all his life had 
he seen such confusion, and he did not 
know what it was all about. He did not 
seem at all afraid of the Sahib and his 
men. In fact, he was quite curious about 
them and went up to them freely. 

Little Ali was delighted to have a young 
elephant where he could see it and put 


78 Jm^aLE JOE 

his hands on it, and the boy’s heart went 
out at once to the small elephant, and to 
humor him, and because he felt sorry for 
the lad who had so recently lost his father, 
the Sahib told Ali that he could call Baby 
Elephant his own, so the Malay boy took 
the small elephant to his heart and the two 
became as good companions as a boy and 
a pony might have been. 

The first thing that the men did was to 
try to feed the baby elephants. They se¬ 
cured some cows’ milk, and then held Baby 
Elephant and put his trunk into the milk. 
At the same time. Sahib Anderson 
squirted milk into his mouth with a squirt- 
gun. This gave Baby Elephant to under¬ 
stand that the milk came, when his trunk 
was first put into the milk and then into 
his own mouth. 

Little by little they taught the small 



BEEAKING THE ELEPHANT 79 


elephant to suck up the milk into his trunk 
and then to squirt it into his mouth. They 
finally coaxed out nine other baby ele¬ 
phants from the corral. But to Ali, Baby 
Elephant was the best of them all. He 
would play with him by the hour. In fact, 
all the baby elephants were very playful, 
inquisitive little chaps. 

They poked about into everything in 
the camp with their inquiring trunks. 
Baby Elephant finally got so he would 
follow Ali about like a dog, and would go 
with him far from camp. This filled the 
boy with childish delight. 

‘‘ He know me, he love me! He know 
I am his master,” the boy would say ex¬ 
citedly to the Sahib, at which the white 
man would smile and encourage the play. 

The mature elephants were allowed to 
remain in the corral for nearly a week 


80 


JUNGLE JOE 


without any food in order that they might 
be reduced in strength and fierceness so 

that they could be handled more easily. 
It was rather harsh treatment, but the 

training and the breaking of all wild ani¬ 
mals is usually harsh. Few people realize 
the harsh lessons which go into the mak¬ 
ing of a trick animal, with the possible ex¬ 
ception of a dog or a horse. Most of the 
large animals have to be coerced, and 
handled through fear. 

Finally a small pen which would hold 
just one elephant was built up against the 
gate, and one by one the elephants were 
allowed to enter it, food having been 
placed to toll them inside. In this small 
stall the elephant could not turn about or 
even move. So while he ate ravenously 
of the bamboo tips which had been pro¬ 
vided for him, the knee and the foot hob- 


BREAKING THE ELEPHANT 81 


Lies were put on him. These were strong 
bands which went about the legs, with 
ropes running from the fore to the hind 
legs. If he started to run, he would 
tumble down. In fact he could not run 
with the hobbles on. He could just scuff 
along miserably. From this small pen, 
the elephants were led one at a time to 
the stocks which the men had been two 
weeks in building. This was a large en¬ 
closure with thirty or forty individual 
stalls. 

The method of leading an elephant to 
the stocks was most interesting. Ropes 
were tied to his forelegs and his hind legs, 
and also to his trunk, and six men were 
put on each rope to hold on for dear life. 
For it might mean some of their lives if 
the elephant got away. 

Even so, the Sahib’s deadly thunder- 


82 


JUJSTGLE JOE 


stick was always in readiness if the great 
beast got to killing the men and could not 
be controlled. Before they started with 
the first elephant, a double row of stakes 
was driven in the ground along the way 
the elephant should be led, and he went 
between the stakes. The ropes which the 
men held were passed over these stakes, 
in the same way a derrick is staked down 
by guy-ropes. So the men had to furnish 
only half the pull upon the elephant, and 
the stake did the rest. 

This was the only way that the twenty- 
four men could hold the elephant, and even 
so, some of them got away. Arrived at 
the stocks, the elephant was guided to his 
particular stall and his head secured be¬ 
tween two large posts whieh had been set 
in the ground for that purpose. A pole 
was later set up on either side of him, and 


BKEAKING THE ELEPHANT 83 

one behind his hind legs and in front of 
his hind legs, so that he was quite secure. 

The elephants were kept in the stocks 
for about two weeks before any effort was 
made to take them out or to break them. 
During this time they were fed those things 
that they best like, and petted very freely 
by the men. They were given to under¬ 
stand that good behavior on their part 
brought rewards, while disobedience or 
temper brought swift and terrible punish¬ 
ment. These great beasts are very clever, 
and quick to learn from object-lessons like 
these. 

The first one of the elephants to be 
brought forth for breaking was Baby 
Elephant’s mother. She was first hobbled 
with only the knee-hobbles. That would 
give her more chance to move about. 

Ropes were fastened to both her legs 


84 


JUn^TGLE JOE 


and trunk, as they had been when she was 
guided to the stocks, but this time, the 
men did not pass the ropes over the stakes 
in the ground, but relied upon their 
strength to hold her. For a few minutes 
after the old elephant, one of the largest 
the Sahib had ever seen, came out of the 
stocks there was a most lively time. She 
rushed first this way and then that, try¬ 
ing to get at her trainers, and also to break 
away from the ropes. 

Her strength was titanic, and the men 
stumbled and slid, and the rattan ropes 
slipped through their hands. Once she 
nearly trampled several men to death and 
they were obliged to take a turn around 
a near-by tree with the rope. Just as the 
training was going on most furiously and 
the old elephant was trumpeting and bel¬ 
lowing with rage, a terrified little figure 


beeaki:n^g the elephant 85 


appeared on the scene. It was Baby Ele¬ 
phant himself, and he was frantic at what 
was happening to his mother. He trum¬ 
peted and squeaked continuously, and 
constantly got in the way. Finally the 
Sahib had one of the men catch him and 
lead him away into the jungle and little 
Ali followed and tried to comfort the 
small elephant, but it was some time be¬ 
fore he would be consoled. 

Baby Elephant’s mother was the very 
hardest of all the herd to break. She had 
been the leader of the herd for so long, 
and had so enjoyed her own way about 
everything, that she could not get it into 
her head that she in turn must submit and 
must be governed. 

Half a dozen men always followed after 
her, beating her with rattans. It was 
rather cruel, and made her frantic, but this 


86 


JUIN^GLE JOE 


was a part of the training that should 
break her stubborn spirit. Finally when 
Sahib Anderson had become discouraged, 
and had thought he would have to resort 
to the thunder-stick, Baby Elephant’s 
mother gave in. She announced her sur¬ 
render by a pathetic bellow, and from that 
time on she was a changed creature, al¬ 
ways trying to understand her breakers, 
and to do their bidding. 

If an elephant still refused to continue 
to give in after many severe lessons, it was 
taken away into the jungle and shot. The 
Sahib knew if the elephant would not sub¬ 
mit, it would always be a menace and 
never would be well trained. It was not 
deemed wise to let any of the elephants 
which had been captured go, as they did 
so much damage in the rice-fields. 

So day after day and week after week 


BKEAIvIXG THE ELEPHANT 87 


the breaking of the elephant herd went 
on. Most of the tuskers, that is, the male 
elephants with heavy tusks, were shot. 
Their tusks were worth hundreds of dol¬ 
lars, more than the elephants were worth 
alive for show purposes, so this was the 
easiest way. But nearly all the female 
elephants and some of the small males 
were finally broken. 

They were taught to go ahead, to stop, 
to turn to the right and left, and to back, 
as well as to kneel down. This was so that 
men could get upon their backs, or so a 
howdah or any other load could be placed 
upon them. 

Finally, after eight months of the most 
arduous work that the men had ever ex¬ 
perienced, the herd was all broken, and the 
Sahib began making preparations for the 
trip to Singapore, where he would ship all 


88 JUNGLE JOE 

his captives either to Germany or to 
America. 

As the preparations went forward, a 
great sense of sadness came over little Ali. 
He had come fairly to worship the Sahib. 
He followed his every movement and 
listened breathlessly for his every word. 
To the small brown boy, the white man 
was as a god. Finally Ali was allowed 
to sleep at the Sahib’s camp as the time 
for departure drew near. 

One evening about a week before the 
time set for the journey, Ali very much 
surprised and distressed the Sahib by a 
strange announcement. He went up to 
the white man and put his small hand on 
his with the greatest confidence and said 
simply, “ When the Sahib go, Ali will go. 
Ali has no father. Ali’s father is dead. 
Sahib will be Ali’s father. Ali will 



BEEAKi:Na THE ELEPHANT 89 

go with Sahib to America. He be Ali’s 
father.” 

The words were so simple and so trust¬ 
ful and the boy had such an assurance 
that the Sahib was speechless for several 
seconds. Then he drew the boy close to 
him and said kindly, “ I would like to 
take you, Ali, if I could. You are a good 
boy and I like you much. But I can’t. 
You see America is different from this 
country. You would be lonesome. You 
would not be happy.” 

“ I not be lonesome where the Sahib is,” 
said Ali. I would be happy. I cannot 
be happy again where he is not. I have 
no father. You are my father.” 

Vainly the Sahib tried to think of some 
way out of the difficulty but there seemed 
to be none. At last he was obliged to tell 
Ali firmly that he could not go with him. 


90 JUNGLE JOE 

At these words from his god all the 
joy and life seemed to go out of the little 
brown boy. Do what Sahib Anderson 
Avould to cheer him up, he could not rally 
his si^irits. Finally in sheer desperation, 
because he really felt some responsibility 
for Ali, because his father had been killed 
in his service, the Sahib hit upon a novel 
plan. It would cost him a lot of money, 
but he was a generous man and he dearly 
loved children, so he determined to make 
this sacrifice. He would give Ali Baby 
Elephant for his very own. The small 
elephant would be worth several hundred 
dollars in the United States, but he could 
not bear to see the boy who had been his 
boon companion so broken-hearted. 

When the Sahib finally made the propo¬ 
sition to Ali, he was delighted with the 
way in which the boy regained his spirits. 


BKEAKING THE ELEPHANT 91 

The loss of Baby Elephant had weighed 
almost as much upon his young mind as 
had the loss of the Sahib. So he thanked 
the white man with tears in his eyes. 

The evening before the great cavalcade 
started Sahib Anderson said good-bye to 
both Ali and Baby Elephant and sent one 
of his men with them to the Malay village 
near by, where Ali was to live with his 
uncle. This seemed to be a fine arrange¬ 
ment, but they had not consulted Baby 
Elephant himself. 

He had very strong ideas as to whom 
he belonged and where his place was in 
the world. He went along all right and 
seemed well satisfied to stay with Ali in 
the Malay village. All through the even¬ 
ing Ali petted and played with him and 
fed him sugar-cane tips and other dainties 
that he liked. Finally he tied him with a 


92 


JUI^^^GLE JOE 


rattan rope and fastened the rope to a 
strong stake, near the bamboo hut where 
he was to sleep himself. He said good¬ 
night to Baby Elephant about eight 
o’clock and went to his own bed, thinking 
what a fine time he would have on the 
morrow playing with his chum. 

But about midnight Baby Elephant, 
having been sleeping rather restlessly, 
awoke and suddenly realized that he was 
alone. His mother by whose side he had 
alwaj^s slept was not there. He had been 
so taken up playing with Ali that he had 
not thought of it before. But now it 
grew upon him with alarming rapidity and 
finally settled into a sense of panic and 
fear. 

At first he went up and down the length 
of his rope several times, then he began 
straining at it. Finally he put all his 


BREAKING THE ELEPHANT 93 


strength against it and it did not give. 
Then he became very angry, and pulled 
still more desperately. After finding that 
it did no good to strain suddenly on the 
rope, he settled down for business and 
braced his sturdy little legs and laid his 
full weight against the rope. For five 
minutes he strained, bending lower and 
lower to the ground. Finally the stake 
pulled up so suddenly that he went over 
on his head. But this was nothing, for 
he picked himself up hurriedly and with¬ 
out even looking towards the hut where 
Ali slept, he started at his shambling pace 
towards the Sahib’s camp. He knew the 
way back as well as a dog would have 
known it. tie arrived at the camp about 
an hour after daylight. Here he found 
that all were gone. The Sahib’s cavalcade 
had started two hours before to avoid the 


94 JUNGLE JOE 

heat. But Baby Elephant was not dis¬ 
mayed, for he soon found the tracks of 
the elephant herd, and he shuffled away 
after them determined to find his mother 
if he had to run his legs off. 

About an hour after Baby Elephant 
left the Malay village, Ali awoke and 
crept carefully outside the hut to see that 
Baby Elephant was all right. At first, 
when he saw he was missing he thought 
he must be dreaming and rubbed his eyes 
and looked again. But it was true, for he 
finally found the stake-hole. His chum 
was gone. 

Little Ali did not cry out. Instead he 
went silently into the hut and got his 
sandals and his clothes, and dressing hur¬ 
riedly outside he started at a dog-trot to¬ 
wards the Sahib’s camp. He knew full 
well that Baby Elephant had gone back 


BKEAKING THE ELEPHANT 95 


home, so he followed like a brown shadow. 
The rhythmic spat of his sandals kept time 
to his impatient thoughts. He would find 
Baby Elephant or drop by the way. 


CHAPTER V 


THE TRIP TO SINGAPORE 

It was a rather imposing cavalcade 
which Sahib Anderson finally assembled 
for the trip to Singapore. Most of these 
wild animals had been kept in his animal- 
houses close to the Malay village near the 
Sahib’s camp, the elephants alone being 
kept at camp. 

All the bullock teams for twenty miles 
around had been pressed into service. 
They were not very much to look at, con¬ 
sisting of rude carts drawn by slow-mov¬ 
ing bullocks, but this was the only mode 
of conveyance in that country, so the Sahib 
had to make the best of it. 

The large wooden cages which were 

finally loaded upon the bullock-carts con- 

96 


THE TRIP TO SmOAPORE 97 

tained the female tigress, the mate of 
terrible Man-Eater, Orang-outang, Wild 
Man and his mate, Spotted and Black 
Leopard and their mates, Baba-rusa and 
his mate, Black Buck and his mate. Baby 
Tapir and his mother, and a score of 
smaller animals; not to mention six cages 
of tropical birds. This showing of about 
twenty bullock-carts was preceded by the 
elephants, forty in number. There were 
twenty female elephants, many of them 
having baby elephants, and ten young 
bulls. 

Sahib Anderson’s wild-animal proces¬ 
sion was almost a circus street-parade in 
itself. Never had such a procession of 
wild animals been taken out of the Malay 
Jungle by one man at one time. So the 
excitement among the natives ran high. 

Nearly two hundred Malay ’ helpers 


98 


JUNGLE JOE 


were required to manage the cavalcade, 
and that added to the imposing line. 

Each elephant had a driver, either walk¬ 
ing by his side, or riding complacently 
upon the elephant’s head, while each bul¬ 
lock-cart had a driver, and some of them 
two. Then there were camp-attendants 
and cooks, for this great company would 
consume much food on the journey. It 
was two hundred miles to Singapore, and 
most of the journey was to be made on 
foot. 

As the strange procession finally got 
under way, nearly all the Malay inhabi¬ 
tants for twenty miles around had as¬ 
sembled to see them off. 

There was silence among all the wild 
animals, save in the cages of Black Lan¬ 
gur and the tropical birds. The monkeys 
chattered, screamed, and swore, and every 



THE TKIP TO SINGAPORE 99 

now and then uttered their characteristic 
cry of ‘‘ Wah, wah, wah! Hoo, hoo, hoo! ” 
while the wild tropical birds voiced strange 
cries of alarm, or sang hysterically. 

The tigress and the leopards looked on 
indifferently, gazing at the scene with 
their yellow, gleaming eyes, and yawning 
as though it made them tired. Finally 
they stretched and yawned some more, 
and then went to sleep. But Black Lan¬ 
gur was very wide-awake. Nothing by 
the roadside escaped him. He screamed 
and chattered at each new scene, but at 
last even he settled down to the monotony 
of the long, hard march. 

The cavalcade travelled rather slowly, 
about three miles an hour, the elephants 
at the head setting the pace. 

When little Ali arrived at the Sahib’s 
camp, to his great astonishment he found 



100 


ju:n^gle joe 


it deserted. He had not thought that his 
friend the Sahib would break camp so 
early. But he was not dismayed. The 
way that they had gone was very apparent 
to his jungle-trained eyes. This Malay 
boy was as good a tracker as there was in 
the whole Malay Peninsula, and it was as 
easy for him to follow a trail like that of 
the caravan as it would have been for a 
hound, so he took the trail and scuffed 
along after the Sahib’s wild-animal pro¬ 
cession. He did not know just what he 
would do when he caught up with them, 
but he must find the Sahib. The white 
man must listen to him, for the loss of 
Baby Elephant was not the only thing 
that troubled the small brown boy. 

While he had been sleeping the evening 
before, he had heard his uncle. Prince 
Bahi, and another Malay talking over a 


THE TKIP TO SIl^GAPOEE 101 


despicable and cruel plan to sell Baby 
Elephant when the Sahib should be out 
of the country. Baby Elephants like this 
one were quite valuable, and the greedy 
uncle wanted what money he could get 
from the sale of this one. Not only had 
little Ali faced the probability of losing 
his beloved small elephant, if he stayed 

I 

with his cruel uncle, but he had also heard 
them talking of killing him if he objected 
to the selling of the elephant. So not only 
was he in danger of losing his pet, but 
also his life. Ali knew that the Sahib was 
a good man with a kind heart. If he 
really understood all his troubles, he would 
surely help. He was a great man, was 
the Sahib. He would know how to 
straighten things out. Then the thought 
would come to Ali that perhaps the Sahib 
would not listen to him; perhaps he would 


102 


JUNGLE JOE 


send him back. At this thought the boy’s 
heart would almost stand still with fear. 

Such were his thoughts as Ali scuffed 
after the wild animal cavalcade. He knew 
full well that they would travel five or 
six hours and then stop in the middle of 
the day and then resume the trip in the 
middle of the afternoon. 

But Ali had not appreciated how long 
the way would be, or how fast the proces¬ 
sion would move. He arrived at their 
noon camp an hour or two after they had 
left. So he resolutely scuffed on after 
them. 

That evening he still followed wearily 
until ten o’clock, when to his great joy, 
he came in sight of the camp. Even then 
he did not dare to show himself, or make 
his presence known. Perhaps the Sahib 
would send him back if he appeared too 


THE TEIP TO SmOAPORE 103 


soon. His plan was to follow day after 
day and then appear, when it was too late 
to send him back. 

That night at about midnight, when the 
elephants were all peacefully sleeping and 
the bullocks chewing their cuds, and the 
camp sentry sleeping also, just as Ali had 
known he would be, a quiet little figure 
stole cautiously towards the camp, keep¬ 
ing in the shadows, and moving as silently 
as a shadow itself. It made its way from 
tree to bush till it reached the outskirts 
of the camp, and then slipped noiselessly 
into the shadows caused by the long line 
of carts and the large cages containing the 
wild animals and the birds. After some 
time, the line of ruminating bullocks was 
reached, and then the long line of ele¬ 
phants, each secured by a stake. Carefully 
the figure crept from elephant to elephant 


104 


JUNGLE JOE 


until at last it came to the head of the 
long line where Baby Elephant and his 
mother was secured. 

The old elephant was sleeping soundly, 
but Baby Ele];)hant himself was quite 
wide-awake. Perhaps he was thinking of 
his young master and wondering what had 
become of him. Certain it was that he 
greeted him with squeaks of delight, and 
fondled his hands and face with his ex¬ 
pressive trunk. 

As for Ali himself, he was overjoyed to 
find his chum, and to know that he had 
found his way safely to the Sahib’s camp, 
although he had never doubted that he 
would. 

Ali did not dare talk aloud to Babv 
Elephant, so he whispered in his great ear, 
telling him all his boyish sorrows, and they 
were real sorrows, fraught with very grave 


THE TRIP TO SINGAPORE 105 

danger to the boy. And Baby Elephant 
was as sympathetic and loving as a small 
elephant could possibly have been. He 
squeaked and nuzzled with his trunk, and 
rubbed against Ali, until the little brown 
boy was greatly comforted. 

Finally Ali had to take a heart-break¬ 
ing farewell of his,chum, but this was not 
until he had buried his face upon Baby 
Elephant’s shoulder and poured out his 
grief in great sobs. 

Then the elephants began waking one 
by one and shaking their great ears, and 
Ali knew that it would soon be daylight, 
so he crept away as silently as he had come. 

That morning when Sahib Anderson 
made his round of the camp, he pulled 
Baby Elephant’s big ear playfully and 
asked him where Ali was. But he little 
dreamed of the tale that the small ele- 


106 


JUis^GLE JOE 


phant could tell if he had the power of 
speech. 

After breakfast, the bullock-tearns were 
again yoked up, and Baby Elephant and 
his mother swung into the wagon-trail 
and the long day’s march again began. 

The roads were little more than wagon- 
trails, with the two tracks made by the 
wheels barely showing. Often the way 
was rough, and the going very hard. 

To little Ali trudging a mile or two be¬ 
hind the animal cavalcade, the way seemed 
endless. Those in the procession joked 
and chatted by the way, and that helped 
the tedium, but Ali was all alone. Be¬ 
sides he had to provide for his food and 
look out for water while he travelled. 

He subsisted largely upon fruit and 
berries, but occasionally he stopped at a 
Malay hut to beg some rice, or rice-cakes. 


THE TRIP TO SINGAPORE 107 


and other plain food, or perhaps some dry 
fish if he was lucky. But he often went 
hungry, aside from the fruit. 

The Malay villagers looked askance at 
him. So at the end of the second day 
when forty miles in all had been covered 
Ali was footsore, stifiF, and weary-hearted. 
But he did not give up, for his only salva¬ 
tion was in ‘‘ carrying on.” If he lost the 
Sahib and the animal caravan, he lost 
everything. 

So again that night he crept into camp 
and poured his grief into the large, sym¬ 
pathetic ear of Baby Elephant and was 
much comforted. 

The following morning when Sahib 
Anderson made the round of his camp to 
inspect the animals, he again stopped at 
Baby Elephant and his mother to pay his 
respects to Baby Elephant, as he was very 


108 


JUNGLE JOE 


fond of him. The small elephant also 
liked the Sahib, as did all the animals. 
He had even partly subdued the hatred 
of Orang-outang, or Wild Man, simply 
by talking to him in a gentle, kind man¬ 
ner. When one of the magpies had first 
seen Wild Man, she had gone up to the 
bars of her cage and chattered at the Sahib 
for ten minutes, even screaming and scold¬ 
ing at the top of her voice. Of course the 
Sahib knew not a word of her conversa¬ 
tion, but he felt perfectly sure that she 
was telling him what a terrible fellow 
Orang-outang was, and advising the Sahib 
to get rid of him. He also talked to the 
infuriated bird, just as he did to all the 
animals, so that she was finally pacified. 

In the same manner he now stroked 
Baby Elephant’s ears, and pulled his 
trunk and talked to him. All this pleased 


THE TRIP TO SINGAPORE 109 

the small elephant greatly, so that he 
squeaked with delight. 

“ Well, well, little chaj),” said the Sahib, 
“ I wonder where your small master is, 
and what he is doing this fine morning. 
I guess he misses you. We should like 
to see him, wouldn’t we, little chap? ” 

If Baby Elephant could have talked 
English, he might have told a strange 
tale, for he of all the large company knew 
that Ali had been in camp the night be¬ 
fore. Even at that very moment the 
Malay lad was hiding in a bamboo thicket 
not a mile away, watching from the top of 
a bamboo for the starting of the cavalcade. 

Finally he saw the long snake-like cara¬ 
van take the road, and he climbed wearily 
down the tree and pattered after them, for 
the long day’s hike over the sun-baked 
trail. 


110 


JUNGLE JOE 


Little Ali had several problems to meet. 
He dared not go too near the caravan for 
fear that Sahib would discover him and 
send him back home, and he dared not lag 
too far behind, for fear that he would lose 
the way. He knew only in a general 
fashion where they were going. He had 
been over the trail but once before and 
was not sure of it. 

Then there was another dark danger 
coming up swiftly upon his trail from be¬ 
hind, but he knew it not. 

His grasping uncle. Prince Bahi, had 
been furious when he had discovered the 
flight of the boy and the elephant, for he 
supposed they had gone together. He 
suspected that it was a trick of the Sahib’s 
to get back the elephant and also to get 
the boy. So he followed on the trail of 
the wild-animal caravan, determined to 


THE TRIP TO SINGAPORE 111 


secure both boy and elephant. He did not 
want Ali, but he did want the baby ele¬ 
phant, which he knew was valuable. 

All through the day little Ali trotted 
after the Sahib’s wild-animal procession. 
At noon, when they halted, he halted. 
His feet were by this time blistered, and 
he was sore and lame in every joint. The 
hot tropical sun beat down upon him, but 
he kept doggedly on. All that he loved 
in the whole world was ahead in the cara¬ 
van, Baby Elephant and the Sahib. He 
did not even know whether the Sahib 
would let him stay or not when he should 
finally make his presence known, but he 
must trust to luck. He would say, 
‘‘ Peace, brother,” to the Sahib. Perhaps 
that would help. 

He did not intend to make himself 
known until just before they reached the 


112 


JUNGLE JOE 


port from where the animals were to be 
shipped to Singapore. He knew just how 
it was to be done, for he had heard the 
Sahib talk the trip over with his men. 

On the fourth morning of little All’s 
desperate pursuit of the caravan, just at 
dawn, the Malay boy was about to crawl 
out of the bamboo thicket by the side of 
the road where he had spent the night, 
and reconnoitre the camp, when he heard 
voices coming down the road. As he was 
ever on the watch, and suspicious of every 
sound, he drew quickly back and peered 
anxiously out of the thicket. 

His precaution was well taken, for 
presently his sinister uncle. Prince Bahi, 
and another Malay came running along 
the road. They seemed in a great hurry 
and were much excited, as well as very 
angry. 


THE TRIP TO SmOAPORE 113 

Ali could only catch a word or two, but 
he felt sure that he was the object of 
their wrath, and that they were bound for 
the camp to have it out with Sahib An¬ 
derson. Would he give up Baby Ele¬ 
phant? At the thought the Malay boy’s 

heart went sick. If he lost the small 
» 

elephant, he would not care to live any 
longer, now that he had lost the Sahib. 

Fifteen minutes later a heated interview 
took place between the white man and the 
infuriated Malay. 

Bahi came straight to the point, as was 
his custom. 

“ You bad man. Sahib Anderson,” he 
said. “You get Ali to run away, and 
take small elephant back to your camp 
with him.” 

“ You are mistaken, Bahi,” said the 
Sahib, for he knew what children these 


114 


JU]^GLE JOE 


Malays were, and he did not believe in 
getting angry with them. 

“You are mistaken. I have not per¬ 
suaded Ali to run away. On the con¬ 
trary, I told him to stay with you and be 
a good boy.” 

“ Where is he? ” asked Bahi pointedly. 

“ I don’t know,” returned the Sahib. 
“ If he is missing, I wish I did know. If 
you do not believe me, you may search my 
camp.” 

With this permission the two suspicious 
Malays went hurriedly through the camp. 
Finally they returned to the Sahib, ex¬ 
ultant, yet partly defeated. 

“ Small elephant is here and you have 
hidden Ali. You saw us coming,” said 
Prince Bahi. 

At this direct accusation, the Sahib’s 
temper began to rise. He turned his eyes. 


THE TEIP TO SINGAPOKE 115 


which were of a steely blue, full upon the 
two brown men. 

‘‘ Bahi,” he said, ‘‘ the Sahib never lies, 
and he never cheats. He leaves that to 
his brown brother. 

“ Ali is not here, and I have not seen 
him since I broke camp. The baby ele¬ 
phant came to us the night after we left 
camp. I think he broke away for he was 
dragging a rope.” 

“ The Sahib lies,” said Bahi doggedly, 
“ I will take the small elephant and then 
the boy will come home when he gets 
ready.” 

‘‘ You will do nothing of the kind. The 
elephant belongs to Ali, and he alone can 
claim him. I shall keep him until I see 
Ali. Now you get out of my camp.” 

For a few minutes the dark men hesi¬ 
tated, but finally the Sahib turned upon 


116 


JUNGLE JOE 


them with such fury that they left the 
camp in great haste, vowing vengeance 
upon the white man and all his outfit. 

All that day little Ali trailed the animal 
caravan, but he went parallel to the trail, 
half a mile to one side. He did not know 
what had become of his uncle, but he felt 
sure that if he fell into his clutches his 
uncle would bring him back home, and 
great punishment would be his. 

By the fifth night they had reached a 
point where the trail ran parallel to the 
sea, with only half a mile between them 
and salt water. 

Sahib Anderson found that the Malay 
village where he was camped was in a 
great terror, for a mighty cave-tiger had 
been killing the villagers for weeks, and 
the natives hardly dared venture out-of- 
doors at night. 


THE TEIP TO SINGAPOKE 111 


They besought the Sahib to stop and 
hunt the tiger, but he could not halt his 
march, as his animals would suffer. So, 
all unconscious of his great danger, little 
Ali lay down to sleep on that fifth night 
of his long, hard journey, almost in the 
very heart of the lair of the great man- 
eating tiger. But he was a child of nature 
and had perfect trust. He had talked 
much with the old priest, and that good 
man had instilled into him the idea that 
all God’s creatures are good and harm¬ 
less, so he did not fear. 

He lay awake for several minutes lis¬ 
tening to the soft sighing of the wind in 
the bamboo thicket, and to the far cries 
of night-birds, but finally the fatigue of 
the long, hard day’s march overcame him 
and he slept soundly. 

After a while there came into his sleep 


118 


JUNGLE JOE 


a strange sense of a great danger which 
was creeping steadily upon him. In his 
dream he seemed to feel this danger rather 
than see it and that made it even more 
terrible. 

He could feel it creeping, creeping, 
creeping, foot by foot, yet he could see 
nothing. Finally this sense became so 
strong that he awoke with a half-smoth¬ 
ered cry upon his lips. With his awaken¬ 
ing, the sense that the danger was hidden 
gave place to a very real sense that the 
danger was very close at hand, and that 
he would immediately discover it. He 
looked this way and that with his narrow 
Malay eyes. It was rather dark in his 
thicket, so he could not see well until his 
eyes became accustomed to the darkness. 
But presently he thought he made out a 
long, lithe, sinuous figure about thirty 


THE TKIP TO SINGAPORE 119 


feet away creeping slowly towards him. 
Like a flash, the thought of tigers rushed 
through his mind. 

Then that which he had thought the 
shape of a tiger came out into a patch of 
moonlight, about twenty-five feet away, 
and he was certain. 

It was a tiger and the king of all tigers. 
Ali could plainly see the mighty shoulder, 
with the tense muscles under the beauti¬ 
ful coat, the great head, the slowly lash¬ 
ing tail, and worst of all, the phosphores¬ 
cent eyes, that gleamed like two great 
coals. The mighty beast had one fore¬ 
paw advanced and partly raised. Whether 
he was about to spring or not, Ali could 
not tell. 

All’s first thought as the king of tigers 
came so plainly into view within spring¬ 
ing distance of him was one of great fear. 


120 


JUNGLE JOE 


It seemed to him that his blood froze in 
his veins, and his heart stood still. Then 
of a sudden, he remembered the old priest, 
and his wonderful words about wild ani¬ 
mals. 

“ Ali,” he had said one day, “ never 
forget that all the wild beasts are your 
brothers. If vou ever meet them face to 
face, and are seemingly threatened with 
great danger, just know in your heart 
that they are your brothers. If they seem 
ferocious, remember that they are harm¬ 
less. 

“ If they show great ferocity towards 
you, see them as gentle and harmless in 
your own mind. The mind of man has 
perfect control over wild beasts, if he only 
knew it. He can melt away their ferocity 
with loving thoughts just as the sunshine 
melts the snow. 


THE TRIP TO Sli^GAPORE 121 


“ If your wild brother would kill you, 
say to him, ‘ Peace, brother, peace/ ” So 
as the mighty tiger stood in the half 
moonlight glaring with eyes of burning 
fire at little Ali, he began saying slowly 
to himself, ‘‘ Peace, brother, peace.” Then, 
as the tiger seemed to make no further 
move to advance, he said it aloud, but it 
was almost a whisper because of his fear. 

“ Peace, brother, peace.” 

At the sound the tiger uttered an angry 
growl, deep like distant thunder. 

But Ali repeated the command. 

“ Peace, brother, peace.” 

Again the tiger growled, though not so 
loud as before, but to Ali’s great con¬ 
sternation, he began creeping slowly for¬ 
ward, and with each stealthy step he would 
stop and look intently at the half-reclin¬ 
ing boy. 


122 jmSTGLE JOE 

Each time he stopped Ali would say, 
“ Peace, brother, peace.” 

Presently Ali noted that the lashing of 
the tail had ceased, and the eyes did not 
seem to glow so fiercely. 

When about ten feet away, the great 
beast lay gently down upon his belly and 
watched the boy intently for at least five 
minutes. 

It seemed to Ali that these five minutes 
were at least a day, or a year, but he 
never let go of his thought that the great 
tiger was his brother, and would not hurt 
him, and at regular intervals he would say 
softly with caressing tones: 

‘‘ Peace, brother, peace.” 

At last, to All’s great astonishment, 
the mighty beast slowly arose, stretched 
himself deliberately, and turning, made 
his way cautiously out of the thicket. But 



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THE TKIP TO SINGAPOKE 123 


he stopped each step to look back over his 
shoulder at the boy, as though he were 
fascinated by him. 

Finally he disappeared altogether and 
Ali gave a great sigh of relief. But the 
strain had been terrific, so the homeless, 
sorrowing lad buried his face in his hands 
and sobbed softly to himself. 

He did not dare cry aloud, for fear the 
tiger would hear him and return. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the great 
man-eating tiger probably still prowled in 
the thicket near by, yet little Ali went 
peacefully to sleep after his encounter, 
feeling sure that the great beast would not 
hurt him. 

The tiger understood what he had said. 
It was as the old priest had said. They 
were brothers. 

But at about daybreak he was awakened 


124 


JUNGLE JOE 


by the most blood-curdling yells that he 
had ever heard. Not even from his father 
when the bull elephant had killed him. 

These cries were so horrible, so expres¬ 
sive of terror and agony that the terrified 
boy simply threw himself upon the earth, 
and covered his ears with his hands, 
sobbing with uncontrollable fright. 

There he lay trembling and sobbing, for 
at least five minutes. Then he cautiously 
uncovered his ears, fearing to hear the 
dreadful sounds again. But it was as still 
as death; in fact the stillness taken to¬ 
gether with the fearful sounds that he had 
just heard did suggest death to the fearful 
imagination of Ali. 

He was not sure from what direction 
the sounds had come, so thinking to get 
out of the thicket as soon as possible, he 
crept cautiously towards the road. But 


THE TRIP TO SmOAPORE 125 

he had not gone a hundred feet when a 
fearful sight met his eyes; for, coming 
suddenly into an opening in the cover, he 
saw the mighty tiger crouching over a 
man. The face of the man was turned up 
towards him, and he saw, to his great 
horror, that it was that of his Uncle Bahi. 

At the sight of the boy the tiger uttered 
a thunderous growl and bared his fangs in 
an angry snarl. 

This was enough for little Ali. He and 
the tiger might be brothers as the priest 
had said, but the tiger did not understand 
that he and Uncle Bahi were brothers 
also. So Ali fled towards Saliib Ander¬ 
son’s camp, his terror growing with each 
rod that he covered. 

He would throw off all disguises and 
throw himself upon the mercy of the 
Sahib. 


126 


JUNGLE JOE 


Fifteen minutes later, he burst into 
Sahib Anderson’s tent and with a wild 
cry of terror and despair, threw himself 
at the Sahib’s feet, clasping the man’s 
knees and sobbing incoherently. 

The Sahib at once concluded that Uncle 
Bahi was after Ali and lifted him up to 
comfort him. 

“ There, there, sonny, don’t cry. I 
won’t let him hurt you. Perhaps I won’t 
let you go back.” 

For several minutes all Ali could do 
was to sob incoherently, but he finally 
sobbed out his story so that the Sahib 
understood. 

“ I was in bamboo thicket asleep,” he 
explained, “ oh, oh, and great tiger came 
to eat me, and I said, ‘ Peace, brother, 
peace,’ and at last he went away. 

“ But this morning, I wake up and such 


THE TRIP TO SINGAPORE 127 


yell!” Here All stopped and put his 
hands over his ears, and it was some time 
before the Sahib could get him to take 
them away. But he finally continued: 

“ I woke up hearing such yells. Some 
one die; some one dead. Then by and by, 
I go towards the road and I see tiger eat¬ 
ing Uncle Bahi. Oh! oh! ” 

The Sahib thought Ali must have 
dreamed it all, but he comforted the boy 
and finally sent several of his men heavily 
armed to the spot while he attended to 
Ali who was still suffering from the great 
shock. In half an hour’s time the men 
returned with the body of Ali’s cruel 
uncle. 

At the sight, a sudden sense of loneli¬ 
ness and fear came over Ali and he threw 
himself into the lap of the white man. 

“ Oh, Sahib, oh. Sahib, please, please 


128 


JUNGLE JOE 


take me to your United States. Take 
Baby Elephant and me. I will work so 
hard. I can work in your great circus. I 
will tend the animals. I will be your slave 
always.” 

At the sight of the faithful little brown 
boy, clinging to his knees, the tender heart 
of this man of iron was deeply stirred. 

“ All right, Ali,” he said. “ It shall be 
as you say. You and Baby Elephant shall 
go back to the United States with me, and 
be Americans.” 

Ali was so overcome that he could only 
sob for joy. 

Thus, it came about that when the wild- 
animal procession started on its last day’s 
march, the sixth day, little Ali rode upon 
the head of Baby Elephant’s mother, while 
the small elephant trotted by her side; and 
a happier boy and small elephant could 


THE TRIP TO SINGAPORE 129 


not have been found in all the Malay 
Peninsula, for they were going across the 
great ocean with the Sahib to become 
Americans. 

Little Adi never forgot that day’s ride 
upon the head of Baby Elephant’s mother, 
from which vantage-point he would look 
down upon the passers-by, and also see the 
surrounding country. All the natives that 
they passed grinned up at him and he 
grinned back. 

Late in the afternoon of the sixth day 
of their march, they reached the little sea¬ 
port town of Yahmi, upon the straits of 
Malacca. 

Here they said good-bye to all the bul¬ 
locks and their drivers, who went back to 
their homes, while the Sahib the next day 
loaded the jungle folk upon a small tramp 
steamer bound for Singapore. 


130 


JUNGLE JOE 


If the ride upon the head of the large 
elephant had been a treat the day before, 
Ali’s sail down the straits of Malacca was 
a trip in fairy-land. 

The sparkling, shimmering water, alive 
with tropical fish, the blue sky, and the 
countless islands among which their ship 
continually wound her way, were a never- 
ending source of surprise and delight. 
These islands were very heavily timbered 
with great spreading trees, and adorned 
with giant ferns and with a wealth of 
clinging vines which ran all over the trees, 
made the scene one of great beauty. The 
islands were swarming with monkeys and 
tropical birds of beautiful plumage, so the 
scene was indeed beyond words to describe. 

Little Ali sat upon the upper deck 
beside his beloved Sahib taking it all in 
as the ship steamed down the straits. 


THE TKIP TO SHSTGAPOEE 131 


Finally they wound their way around 
a nearly complete circle, in what seemed 
to be a muddy river, and came to anchor 
at the docks, at the very back-door of 
Singapore, and the long trip to that city 
had ended. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE JUNGLE FOLK GO SAILING 

Little Ali, Sahib Anderson, and all 
the jungle folk spent two weeks in Singa¬ 
pore, getting ready for their long sea 
voyage. To Ali, who had never in his 
life seen anything more civilized than the 
small seaport town where they had shipped 
for Singapore, this strange city, with its 
many people and its diversified life, was a 
never-ending source of delight. 

They had entered the city at the back¬ 
door, so all they saw at first was the Malay 
huts upon their bamboo piles. But as they 
went on farther into the city the wonders 
grew on every hand. 

First, there were the great Chinese 

stores, both wholesale and retail, and then 

132 


JUNGLE FOLK GO SAILING 133 

the English and German blocks contain¬ 
ing their great business houses. Some of 
these buildings would have done credit to 
London or New York, but to little Ali 
they were simply astounding. 

The Sahib knew several rich Chinese 
merchants, and he visited some of the finest 
residences in Singapore. The white man 
always insisted that Ali go with him wher¬ 
ever he went. So this very willing brown 
shadow followed gladly. 

Many of the Chinese merchants had 
wonderful gardens at the back of their 
houses, and to wander through one of 
these small parks was like being in fairy¬ 
land. 

At last all the preparations had been 
made, and all the jungle folk loaded into 
a great tramp freighter bound for Ham¬ 
burg, London, and New York. 


134 


JUNGLE JOE 


On that never-to-be-forgotten day when 
they steamed out of the harbor at Singa¬ 
pore and into the Indian Ocean, Ali’s 
heart beat so fast that he thought it would 
stifle him. 

The great adventure of his life had be¬ 
gun. He had started upon that marvelous 
trip to the United States with his beloved 
Sahib. He was going home with the 
Sahib, to live with him and to be a real 
American. 

If the sail down the Straits of Malacca 
had been entrancing, the trip through the 
Indian Ocean was still more so. First, 
there were countless islands, even more 
luxuriant, and more beautiful than those 
of the straits had been. Islands where 
monkej^s chattered in the tree-tops, and 
strange beautifully plumed birds chirped 
and twittered. There were seas as calm 


JUNGLE FOLK GO SAILING 135 

and motionless as glass, and seas that ran 
great billowing waves, which washed their 
decks. There were days when not a breath 
stirred, and the sky was like brass. Then 
there were other days when the typhoons 
swept through their rigging like a veri¬ 
table hurricane. 

Finally they did experience a real hur¬ 
ricane, and little Ali never forgot that 
thrilling experience. For three days the 
sky had been like brass, and the water a 
strange unearthly yellow green, probably 
a reflection from the sky. This gave 
everything such a queer appearance that 
both the animals and birds as well as the 
sailors were uneasy. 

“ What makes the sky and the water 
look so queer, Sahib? ” asked AH who was 
standing by the side of his beloved Sahib 
watching this strange effect. 


136 


JUNGLE JOE 


“ I don’t know, son,” replied the white 
man. “ I am afraid we are making uj) for 
something in the shape of a big storm. 
You can never tell what you will meet with 
in the Indian Ocean.” 

On the third day of this strange sea and 
sky there suddenly appeared in the south 
a great waterspout, with long streamers 
shooting up towards the sun from it. At 
the sight the captain gave hurry orders 
for the ship’s crew to make everything as 
snug as possible. 

On came the great water-funnel straight 
towards the ship. It looked like an in¬ 
furiated monster. Ali hoped that it would 
pass to one side of the ship, but it did 
not. It hit her almost midship, and she 
rolled over on her side so badly that it 

■N 

seemed for a moment as though she could 
never right, but most of the waterspout 


JU^^GLE FOLK GO SAILING 137 

passed directly over the ship, so she did 
not get the full force. 

But even as it was, the experience was 
bad enough, for it left tons of water in 
the ship, the lower deck being covered 
three feet deep, while the lower cabin was 
six feet deep. 

All the steam pumps were set at work 
at once, while the men sought to calm the 
affrighted animals, most of which were 
frantic, thinking that the end of all things 
had arrived. 

This was especially true of the ele¬ 
phants, and they trumpeted and shrieked. 
Every elephant-driver or keeper stood at 
the head of his beast and talked to him 
constantly. There is nothing like the 
sound of a quiet voice to calm the fears 
of the elephant. The Sahib himself stood 
by Baby Elephant’s mother and talked to 


138 


JUNGLE JOE 


her, and as she was the leader of the herd, 
all took their cue from her. When they 
noted that she became quiet, they followed 
suit, but all were restless and very fearful 
as long as the storm lasted. This is a part 
of what instinct does for animals. 

This mighty waterspout that had nearly 
swamped the ship was but the beginning 
of the storm. For in two minutes after 
it had passed, a perfect hurricane was 
shrieking in the rigging, and blowing 
into the sea everything that was not 
secure. The wind howled and whistled so 
that the men could not hear their orders 
six feet away, and went by signs. This 
mighty wind whipped up such a sea that 
each passing wave washed over the lower 
deck, while the air was so full of spume, 
of foam and froth, that one could catch 
whole handfuls of it like soap-bubbles. 


JUNGLE FOLK GO SAILING 139 


Every hour the desperately struggling 
sailors hoped that the storm would abate. 
It was of such fury that it did not seem 
as though it could last, but the storm did 
last all night. So all that night the un¬ 
fortunate ship drove blindly through the 
darkness. They knew not what danger 
was ahead. It might be a terrible collision 
with another ship which would send both 
to the bottom. There were a score of 
things that might happen which would 
spell disaster. 

But at last the day dawned, and the 
wind began to abate, and gradually the 
sea and sky returned to their normal con¬ 
dition. The strange brassy color in the 
sea and sky disappeared, and instead was 
the ordinarv blue. 

ft/ 

The crew were nearly dead with fatigue, 
and after breakfast, half of the men went 


140 


JUNGLE JOE 


to their bunks for sleep, while the rest 
busied themselves repairing the damage 
that the storm had done to the ship. But 
it was two days before things Avere again 
quite normal. 

Ali and the Sahib spent much of their 
time together upon the hurricane deck, 
and here it was that the white man began 
the small brown boy’s education. 

He first taught him to count and to 
figure small sums, and to his astonisliment 
he found Ali very bright. 

Then he taught him the stars. He first 
showed him the North Star, to which the 
“ Pointers,” two stars forming one side of 
the Big Dipper, were guides. He also 
showed him the Little Dipper, and the 
SAvord of Orion, and the Southern Cross. 
Then he taught him a little geography, 
and other information Avhich he would 


JUJS^GLE FOLK GO SAILING 141 

need to know when he came into the 
United States. 

In all these talks the wonder and ad¬ 
miration of the small brown boy for the 
tall, muscular white man grew. The 
Sahib was Ali’s god. He worshipped with 
no uncertain worship, and he also loved 
him as he had never loved any of his own 
family. Thus it will be seen that the two 
grew to be better comrades with each pass¬ 
ing day. 

It was not until they had nearly reached 
Port Said, however, that the wildest mis¬ 
hap of the voyage occurred; one that 
nearly cost the lives of Baby Elephant and 
his mother. Sahib Anderson had brought 
ten Malays with him to take care of the 
animals, most of whom were very clever 
and good-natured. But there were two in 
the number who were veritable mischief- 


142 JUI!^GLE JOE 

makers, never suited with anything, and 
they were always inciting the other men 
to mutiny. The white man was very sorry 
that he had ever brought these two men 
along, but he had to keep them now that 
they were started on the long journey. 
Their native names were so unpronounce¬ 
able that, as they were twins, the Sahib 
had nicknamed them Tobias and Coch- 
unko. 

Finally they got so insolent, and made 
so much trouble with the other men, that 
the Sahib thrashed each of them before the 
rest of the natives. They took their pun¬ 
ishment sullenly, and were seen plotting 
together later on in the day, but no one 

even dreamed of the mischief that they had 

« 

in mind. 

That night, at about midnight, when 
there were few on watch, they came to 


JUIN^GLE FOLK GO SAILING 143 


the elephant quarters and tolled Baby 
Elej)hant to the rail on the lower deck. 
As the natives often took him about the 
ship, and as he was always following Ali 
about, his mother did not protest. But 
when the two scamps got the baby ele¬ 
phant where they wanted him, they de¬ 
liberately lifted him to the top of the rail 
and dropped him overboard. He landed 
upon the water, which fortunately was 
very calm, with a great splash, and at once 
set up a pitiful trumpeting. 

Although most of the people on the 
ship were asleep, as also were the animals, 
yet there were two who heard the small 
elephant’s cry for help. The first of these 
was little Ali. 

He sprang from his bunk, clad only in 
his cotton shirt, and ran at top speed to 
the lower deck. There he could distin- 


144 


JUNGLE JOE 


guish that the trumpeting of his pet came 
from alongside. So he quickly scrambled 
upon the rail, and plainly made out his 
friend, struggling in the water. 

A white boy would have called for help 
and clung securely to the rail, but not 
Ali. His love for the small elephant was 
too great for that, besides he could swim 
like a fish. So he steadied himself for a 
moment, and as that side of the ship 
dipped down upon the swell he dove head 
first into the sea. If Baby Elephant was 
going to drown he would drown with him. 

Just before he struck, he placed the 
palms of his hands together that they 
might cut the water, and keep it from 
knocking the breath out of him. 

Down, down he went. The pressure 
on his ear-drums was terrible. 

It seemed to Ali that he would never 


JUNGLE FOLK GO SAILING 145 

be able to come up. The water seemed to 
be pressing the air all out of his lungs. 
He thought they would burst. Finally 
he began to rise, and presently he popped 
up above the water like a cork. 

To his great joy, as he rose upon the 
crest of a wave, he saw Baby Elephant 
about fifty feet away and struck out for 
him, and in a minute or two had gained 
his side. With some difficulty he got his 
arm over the elephant’s neck and headed 
him towards the ship. 

But at this point there was a new com¬ 
plication. The other pair of ears on the 
ship to hear the small elephant’s cry for 
help was that of his mother. She was 
securely fastened in her stanchion. But 
mother love makes the great animals very 
strong so she pulled and thrashed. Finally 
she lay back and put her full weight upon 


146 


JUNGLE JOE 


the two posts. The weaker gave way, 
and she came bellowing straight to the 
rail. Here with an agility seemingly im¬ 
possible she cleared the rail and splashed 
into the sea. 

Just at this point in the exciting scene 
Sahib Anderson appeared on deck, clad 
only in his pajamas. His masterful mind 
at once brought order out of chaos. 

The ship was stopped and a boat 
lowered. By the aid of Ali, Baby Ele¬ 
phant was coaxed alongside, and quickly 
hauled aboard; then they turned their at¬ 
tention to the old elephant. 

To haul the small elephant aboard was 
one thing, but to handle his mother, with 
her gi’eat weight, was quite another. 

She was first coaxed alongside, and se¬ 
cured to the side of the ship by a harness 
of ropes. Then the mechanics of the ship 


JUNGLE FOLK GO SAILING 147 

under the supervision of the Sahib set to 
work to rig up a windlass and several 
pulleys. When everything was in readi¬ 
ness, twenty of the best men upon the 
ship were placed at the ropes, and by dint 
of ten minutes of hard hauling the old ele¬ 
phant was pulled aboard. 

But the old pachyderm had no sooner 
set her great feet upon the deck than an 
astonishing thing happened, for without 
saying as much as by your leave she seized 
Tobias with her trunk, and with a mighty 
motion flung him high in the air and far 
out over the waves, and before any of the 
men could interfere she had seized Coch- 
unko by the waist, and done the same thing 
to him. 

‘‘ Shoot her; get a gun and shoot her! ” 
cried the captain. “ She will throw us all 
overboard.” 


148 


JUNGLE JOE 


“Wait a minute/’ said Sahib Ander¬ 
son. “ I am not sure but that these two 
villains have had just what was coming to 
them. Lower a boat and rescue them.” 

Finally, when the two culprits were 
hauled aboard, badly scared and nearly 
drowned, after much cross-questioning by 
the Sahib, they admitted their guilt in 
throwing Baby Elephant overboard. So 
every one aboard the ship said that it had 
served them just right, and Baby Ele¬ 
phant and his mother were great heroes 
for the rest of the voyage. 

One day when they were in the Medi¬ 
terranean, and Ali and the Sahib were 
having one of their long talks, the boy 
opened up a new subject. “ Sahib,” he 
said, “ Baby Elephant wants a new name. 
He is too big to be called just ‘ Baby.’ I 
want to make him a new name.” 


JUNGLE FOLK GO SAILING 149 

“ Fine, Ali,” said the Sahib. ‘‘ What 
are you thinking of calling him? ” 

Ali thought deeply for a long time, and 
then he said, “ The Englishman who lived 
with my father he talk much about Mr. 
Chamberlain. He said he was a big man. 
He called him Joe. Sometimes when he 
do something big he call him Joie. I think 
I call Baby Elephant after him.” 

“ That would be a good idea,” said the 
Sahib, “ but it seems to me we ought to 
bring in the jungle some way. You know 
he is a child of the jungle, and he ought 
to have it in his name.” 

“ I think of that, too,” said Ali, and he 
again lapsed into deep thought. 

Then a beautiful smile overspread his 
brown face and he clapped his hands to¬ 
gether. 

“ I know. Sahib, I will call him Jungle 


150 


JU^^GLE JOE 


Joe, and when he is very good I will call 
him Joie/' 

Thus it was that Baby Elephant be¬ 
came Jungle Joe, and also when he was 
very good, Joie. 

Ali saw many things at Hamburg and 
London that interested him, but he did 
not enjoy them to the full, for his mind 
was so set upon America. He wanted 
to save his greatest thrill for that country, 
for he was to be an American and live in 
the United States. 

Just two weeks to a day after they left 
London, the freighter sailed through Hell 
Gate, and then up the Harlem River. 

Ali and the Sahib were on the hurricane 
deck observing everything. 

The white man was pointing out all the 
objects of interest to the small brown boy. 

“ Oh, Sahib, see that great woman with 


JUNGLE FOLK GO SAILING 151 


the lamp in her hand. Look at her, Sahib, 
look at her! ” 

“ That is the Goddess of Liberty. She 
is guarding our dear country. She is 
holding her torch high that people of all 
the earth may see the way into our beauti¬ 
ful country.” 

Ali gazed at the goddess for several 
seconds, and then his attention wandered 
in another direction. 

“ Oh, Sahib, what is that high tower? 
It is almost as high as the sky I ” 

“ That is not a tower at all, Ali, that 
is a building. Some time I will take you 
to the very top.” 

But the craft in the river, and the won¬ 
derful sights ashore were multiplied so 
rapidly that Ali was held speechless, and 
could only gasp. 

Finally, a tugboat came out and warped 


152 


JUNGLE JOE 


the freighter into her slip, and the long 
voyage of the jungle folk was over. They 
had come to anchor in the port of New 
York. 

But the most excited person in all the 
ship, and in all New York for that mat¬ 
ter, was little Ali, for he, too, was going 
to be an American, and was to grow up 
with his beloved Sahib, the greatest and 
the best man in all the world. His cup 
was so full of joy that it could not have 
held another drop. 

The Sahib aroused him from his dream 
by a sound slap on the shoulder. 

“ Well, here we are, boy, safe at home 
again. This is God’s country, son, and 
you are going to be very happy here. You 
and I together.” 


CHAPTER VII 


THE LIFE OF A TRICK ELEPHANT 

Eight years have now passed since that 
eventful day when the freighter bumped 
against her pier in the Harlem River, and 
the long voyage of the jungle folk came 
to an end. Many things have happened 
to them since then, but their lives on the 
whole have been pleasant, and they have 
received the very best of care. They all 
went at once into the great circus of 
Ringden Brothers, and followed the for¬ 
tunes of that glittering show from coast to 
coast. 

Ali, who was then a boy of eight years, 

is now a stalwart lad of sixteen, but rather 

smaller than an American hoy of that 

age. Yet he is well-formed and very 

153 


154 JUNGLE JOE 

hardy, as well he may be, living the strenu¬ 
ous life of the circus. 

Baby Elephant, called Jungle Joe, and 
by his young master, Joie, has changed 
much more even than Ali. When he 
landed in New York he was thirty-nine 
inches high and weighed about two hun¬ 
dred and fifty pounds. He is now over 
seven feet tall and weighs between two 
and three tons, but he is still rated as one 
of the small elephants. But due to the 
very great patience of his young master, 
and his love for Joie, as well as Joie’s 
love for him, he has developed into one of 
the cleverest trick elephants in the saw¬ 
dust ring. 

In the early days he was simply the 
baby elephant, remarkable for his small 
size, but he is now a wonder for intelli¬ 
gence and patience. But Ali is no more 


A TEICK ELEPHANT 


155 


proud of him than when he was just the 
baby. 

The boy still remembers with a glow of 
satisfaction how he always stood by the 
baby’s side in the great menagerie tent 
answering in his broken English the many 
questions of the curious people, especially 
the queries of the children. 

Perhaps some of my readers, who were 
of the circus age eight years ago, will re¬ 
member the shy brown boy who stood by 
the side of the baby elephant, and gladly 
answered all questions concerning him. 

The lad was so glad if the people ap¬ 
preciated his pet, although few knew that 
the baby ele^Dhant really belonged to the 
brown boy from the Malay Peninsula. 

Most of the other jungle folk are still 
with the circus. 

Some of the monkeys have died, for 


156 


JUNGLE JOE 


monkeys are not so very hardy. This is 
also true of the tropical birds, but such 
old friends as Orang-outang, the wild 
man, Baba-rusa, the wild boar, Man- 
Eater, the tiger, and the tapirs, both 
mother and baby, still enthrall the spec¬ 
tators, and fill them with wonder. 

Ali draws a salary for himself, and also 
one for Joie, so he is well-fixed financially. 
This is due to the friendship of the Sahib, 
who is one of the big men of the circus, 
as well as one of its ruling spirits. Ali 
still remembers with a thrill the first few 
days with the great show. When they 
landed in New York the circus was show¬ 
ing in Madison Square Garden, and so 
Ali was at once flung headlong into the 
greatest crowd that the circus ever enter¬ 
tains. 

Where all the seemingly endless crowds 


A TRICK ELEPHANT 


157 


came from and where they went, he could 
not imagine. That is, he did not know 
until the Sahib had taken him all over 
New York and Brooklyn and shown him 
all the sights. 

Finally the season in the Garden was 
finished, and the circus entrained for New 
England. It was a never-to-be-forgotten 
experience seeing the men load the ani¬ 
mals and the belongings of the circus. 

They did it with such precision that 
nothing was ever lost or misplaced. This 
notwithstanding the fact that when all was 
loaded, three trains of over a hundred 
cars had been filled and made ready for 
the journey. 

Ali himself could have gone in the regu¬ 
lar train that carried the circus people, 
and slept in a regulation berth, but he 
preferred to go in a box-car with Joie and 


158 


JUNGLE JOE 


his mother, and two other large elephants. 
He said that Joie might be lonesome. 
They had always stuck together so far, 
and they would continue to do so to the 
very end. So the Sahib finally consented 
to the arrangement. 

It was a strange and novel experience 
for the boy, just from the Malay plains 
and jungles, to sleep in the great car, 
which thundered along the rails to a music 
all its own. 

At first, neither Ali nor Joie could 
sleep, and Ali would lie awake for hours 
talking to his pet, or listening to the 
humming wheels, the clicking of the rails, 
and the shrieking of the locomotive whis¬ 
tle. But gradually both Joie and Ali 
grew to love the life as they did nothing 
else in the world. 

Few people realize, when they see the 


A TEICK ELEPHANT 159 

performances of clever trick animals, the 
great amount of patience that has gone 
into their training. In the case of lions 
and tigers, it takes from four to five 
months simply to get the upper hand of 
them. Just to get them so they will not 
attack the trainer on the slightest provo¬ 
cation. 

So it was with Ali and Jungle Joe, or 
Joie, as Ali always called his friend. 
Nearly all of All’s spare time for a year 
went into the training of Joie, before they 
gave their first performance. But the 
training of Joie was much easier than that 
of the ordinary elephant, because of the 
great love between the pachyderm and its 
master. Animals are very amenable to 
kindness, and if you can get an animal to 
love you it will do almost anything for 
you. And Joie had loved Ali ever since 


160 


JUNGLE JOE 


he had slipped through the corral after 
the great elephant-drive and had found 
Ali’s open arms waiting for him. 

So Ali worked almost entirely through 
love. He never punished Joie, or if he 
did, it was a very mild punishment, such 
as to pull his ear slightly, or slap him on 
the trunk. He knew full well that Joie 
would do anything that he was able to 
understand. So if he did not perform his 
trick rightly it was because he did not 
understand what was wanted. 

The elephant is one of the cleverest ani¬ 
mals, but he has not so much reasoning 
power as is usually thought. His strong¬ 
hold is his memory and his ability to ac¬ 
quire tricks from object lessons. Also his 
adaptability is more because of the fact 
that he is patient, and never forgets. 

Up to the time when Ali first went into 



A TEICX ELEPHANT 


161 


the ring with Joie as a trick animal, his 
duties had been merely to stay with Joie 
in the menagerie tent and to feed him, and 
also to explain to the visitors as much as 
he Imew about the animals which had come 
from the Malay peninsula. But when Ali 
became the handler of a performing ele¬ 
phant he arose in the estimation of all the 
circus people. This was especially true of 
his beloved Sahib, who had stuck by him 
all the years. 

The first act put on by Ali and Joie 
was very simple. The elephant was be¬ 
decked with a beautiful purple-and-gold 
blanket, with a gorgeous howdah upon his 
back, and Ali was dressed to represent a 
Malay prince. In fact, he was featured 
upon the bill-boards as Prince Ali, the son 
of a Malay nobleman, and a person of 
great distinction in his own country. 


162 


JUNGLE JOE 


He and Joie simply came in dressed in 
their court dress and went slowly about 
the ring. Then at a word from Ali, Joie 
went twice about the ring at his best pace. 
Then he came to a sudden standstill be¬ 
fore a great arm-chair. Here Joie sat 
down in the chair and proceeded to put 
on a pair of prodigious spectacles which 
made all the people laugh. He then took 
a bell from a table before him and rang it 
for school, for he was now a schoolmaster. 
At the sound, five trained dogs came run¬ 
ning out and sat upon their haunches in 
a perfectly straight row. They were the 
pupils. Then Joie would squeak out a 
word from the book which Ali placed be¬ 
fore him, and the different dogs would 
bark several times. When Joie indicated 
a special dog by pointing with his trunk, 
that one would bark. 


A TEICK ELEPHANT 


163 


Finally, after this tomfoolery had gone 
on for a spell, school was dismissed, and 
a teeter was placed for Joie. This was a 
very strong platform resting across a large 
log. Very carefully the elephant would 
walk on the plank over the middle of the 
log, and finally balance the platform and 
slowly rock it up and down, causing the 
crowd to applaud. 

Then there was a pedestal about ten 
feet high, and Joie would climb carefully 
to the top of the pedestal, where there was 
a platform about three feet square, and 
here the large animal would stand, with 
just room enough to place his feet. Then 
Ali would climb carefully up to Joie’s 
side, and he would take the lad in his 
trunk and place him upon his back, and 
with Ali still upon his back he would climb 
cautiously down the pedestal. This was a 


164 


ju:n^gle joe 


hair-raising trick which always brought 
generous applause. 

Many other tricks, such as drop-the- 
handkerchief, leap-frog, and tag, Ali 
taught Joie, some of them almost beyond 
belief. 

So after this first day in the ring Joie 
and Ali were among the great people of 
the circus, and consequently given their 
due respect. 

Sahib Anderson was delighted with this 
first performance and hugged Ali, to the 
great delight of the Malay boy, and patted 
Joie till he squeaked his approval in ele¬ 
phant language. 

So after this Ali and Joie knew just 
what they would do each day. 

Promptly when the signal for the 
parade sounded they must be ready to 
take their places in the parade. Then 


A THICK ELEPHANT 


165 


there was the long march through the sea 
of staring faces to the music of half a 
dozen blaring circus bands, and the shriek¬ 
ing of the calliopes. 

At about half-past two, also, at a given 
signal, they went into the ring under the 
“ big top ” for the first performance. 
This took ten or fifteen minutes. 

In the evening, just after supper, they 
took their places in the menagerie tent, 
and at eight-thirty they were in the tent 
again for the last show of the day. 

When they came out of the great top 
for the last time in the evening they took 
their way slowly towards the depot. Ali 
took Joie at once to their car, and made 
him comfortable for the night. Then he 
could go back and see the rest of the show, 
or idle about, or sleep, as suited his whim. 

It was a wild, exciting life, all thrill and 


166 JUNGLE JOE 

crowds. A life of tense nerves and tense 
situations, for there were a dozen mishaps 
that could happen at any time to make 
things go wrong. Then there was the 
fear of the great sea of faces. At first 
this took away Ali’s appetite so that he 
could neither eat nor sleep, but he gradu¬ 
ally got used to it. 

Then there was the continual travel. 
They were always on the move. No mat¬ 
ter how much they liked a certain city, 
they must always move on. They had no 
home but the circus cars and the great 
tents. 

This life was full of action, yet it did 
not pall upon them. 

There was always something new to see, 
or some new problem to meet. 

But finally Ali and Joie got used to 
it. They could sleep as well amid thun- 


A TRICK ELEPHANT 167, 

dering car-wheels and shrieking locomo¬ 
tive whistles as they could have done in 
their native jungle. Gradually, also, the 
lure of the road grew upon them, so they 
were sorry each autumn when the circus 
went into winter-quarters. 

Thus it was that Joie and Ali became 
the habitual dwellers in the Tented Town. 
The Tented Town which ever appeared 
and disappeared. They were citizens of 
the world, and all the people they met 
were their friends. 

But even then their sleep was filled with 
excitement, with shouts, and cries of ven¬ 
ders, and cracking whips, and blaring 
bands, and roaring lions, and trumpeting 
elephants. Thus the night dream was like 
the day-dream, a great glittering pageant 
of change, change, change. 

Nothing was still. Nothing could rest, 


168 


JUi^^GLE JOE 


but all must travel, travel, travel, travel, 
to the sound of roaring car-wheels and 
the music of clicking rails, for this was 
the life of the circus. 


CHAPTER VIII 


JOIE GOES MAD 

During the eighth summer of All’s and 
Joie’s connection with the great circus of 
Ringden Brothers, in the month of 
August, Ali was taken ill with the malarial 
fever. He was not sick enough to be in 
bed, nor did he give up his work, but he 
was sick enough to be very miserable most 
of the time. 

Sahib Anderson urged him to take a 
few weeks off, but he would not hear of 
it. If Joie could not perform twice each 
day the circus would be ruined. The Sahib 
told him that some one else might pos¬ 
sibly put Joie through his tricks, seeing he 
was so well-trained, but to this Ali would 
not listen. 


169 


170 


JimGLE JOE 


“ You see, Sahib, he loves me and he 
will do anything for me. Some one else 
might be harsh with him. They might 
strike Joie, and I could not stand that. 
No, I am all right. I will feel better to¬ 
morrow. Joie and I will show as usual.” 

Although Ali had been used to a great 
heat in his native country, yet the heat in 
the United States seemed to take hold of 
him severely. 

It was an extremely hot summer, and 
Ali’s performances with Joie came at the 
very hottest hours in the day, at two- 
thirty in the afternoon, and at eight-thirty 
in the evening. 

At these times the great tent seemed 
dense with hot, steamy, sticky air. It 
seemed to Ali sometimes as he came into 
the ring that he could not draw another 
breath. He thought he would have to 


JOIE GOES MAD 


171 


throw up his hands and cry out. But he 
always went through his part all right, 
and as for Joie, he was the idol of all the 
children, and the wonder of the adults. 

As soon as their part was over, Ali 
always headed for a cool green field if he 
could find one, and there he stayed until 
it was time to head for the freight-yards. 

In the box-car where he slept with Joie 
it was often stifling. 

As has been said, the boy might have 
slept in a berth in one of the sleepers, in 
fact. Sahib Anderson urged this course 
most vehemently, but Ali was stubborn, 
and not his usual tractable self. 

“No, Sahib, I can’t leave Joie. We 
have always been together, and we always 
will be.” 

“ But you will get sick, boy,” said the 
Sahib anxiously. 


172 


JUNGLE JOE 


“ Oh, no, Sahib, I am all right. I shall 
be better to-morrow.” 

But about the middle of August there 
came a day when Ali could not go into the 
tent for his and Joie’s tricks. He was 
nearly heart-broken, and the Sahib com¬ 
forted him as well as he could, and gave 
him an extra dose of quinine in the hope 
that it might break up his fever. 

“ I guess some one will have to take 
care of Joie,” said the boy feebly that 
afternoon. “ I must rest a little. 

“Be sure. Sahib, and tell them to look 
out each day for the must. Joie doesn’t 
seem to be quite right, himself.” 

The Sahib promised faithfully to see 
that Joie was all right, and Ali slept fit¬ 
fully all the afternoon, but by night he 
had a high fever, and the Sahib insisted 
that he sleep with him that night in the 


JOIE GOES IVIAD 


173 


regular sleeping-car, and for a wonder he 
consented. 

But the attendant to whom Sahib An¬ 
derson gave the care of Joie was not on 
his job, for he neglected to examine the 
small hole in Joie’s cheek-bone each day 
for signs of the “ must,’' the most dreaded 
of all elephant ailments. So it happened 
that Joie, without any warning, went mad 
just after the first performance. He was 
a victim of the dreaded must. 

At the time he had been placed in an 
old barn at the edge of the circus lot. As 
good luck would have it, the men had been 
quick enough to get a couple of ropes 
upon Joie before he became quite unman¬ 
ageable. 

But he was now thrashing about, bel¬ 
lowing and roaring, and threatening each 
minute to break away and rush across the 


174 


ju:n^gle joe 


circus lot, and possibly kill some one in 
his mad career. 

Ali had been a little better that day and 
was sleeping in a small tent upon a cot 
where the Sahib had placed him. It was 
cool here and he could still hear the circus 
noises, which were music to his ears. 

Presently a couple of men passed his 
tent. They were talking excitedly. Ali 
listened listlessly, but presently he caught 
words that brought him upright in bed 
with his eyes staring wildly. 

“ Joie has gone mad,” said one of the 
men excitedly. “ The must. They are 
going to shoot him. I am sorry for the 
boy. It will nearly kill him.” 

Ali sprang from the cot as though he 
had been made of steel springs. 

His clothes were hanging upon a tent 
chair near by. Hastily he reached for 


JOIE GOES MAD 


175 


something in his back trousers pocket, but 
it stuck in the pocket, and it seemed to him 
that he would never get it out. Finally 
it came out with a jerk, and he held in 
his trembling hand, a shiny twenty-two 
revolver. The Sahib had given it to him 
the year before, and it was one of his 
priceless possessions. But he had never 
before seen a time when he thought that 
he needed it. 

So, dressed in nothing but his pajamas, 
and with the small revolver clutched in his 
hand, he ran wildly for the old barn where 
he knew that Joie was kept. 

Each second he strained his ear for the 
dreaded sound. Would he be too late! 
He ran as he had never run before. 

Ali strained every nerve in his brown 
body, and threw himself among the men 
panting and gasping. 


176 


JUNGLE JOE 


“ Stop, stop! ” he cried covering the 
men with his revolver. “ I will kill any 
one who shoots Joie.” 

‘‘ Here, here, Ali, give me that revol¬ 
ver,” cried Sahib Anderson, advancing 
upon the boy. 

Quick as a flash Ali turned upon him. 

‘‘ Go back. Sahib, go back! I love you 
more than all the rest of the men in the 
world, but I love Joie more. I will shoot. 
Go back. Sahib, go back! ” cried the lad 
almost beside himself with his grief. 

The Sahib was a brave man. He had 
faced all sorts of wild animals in his day. 
He had several times stared death in the 
face and not flinched. But at the sight of 
Ali’s flashing eyes, and his tense figure, 
the white man drew back. There was no 
knowing what the boy might do in his 
frenzy of love for Joie. 



JOIE GOES MAD 


177 


“All right, Ali,” he said. “We will 
leave you with Joie, but I guess you don’t 
know what a mad elephant is. Don’t go 
within striking distance of him at present, 
or he will kill you.” 

“ Joie won’t kill me,” said Ali con¬ 
fidently. “ He knows me. * He knows I 
love him.” 

“ No, he doesn’t,” returned the Sahib. 
“ He doesn’t know anything just now. 
He will kill you just as quick as he would 
me. Look out, Ali.” 

Joie had advanced to the end of his 
rope, and made a vicious swipe at Ali with 
his trunk. It struck the boy a glancing 
blow upon the arm, and sent him reeling 
across the stable. 

The Sahib sprang forward to snatch the 
revolver while Ali was still dazed, but Ali 
was up like a cat. 


178 


JUNGLE JOE 


He still gripped the shining weapon 
and held it up defiantly at his beloved 
Sahib. 

“ If you take away my revolver you will 
shoot Joie. But I will shoot all of you 
first. Get back, Sahib! Get back, be¬ 
cause I love you so.” 

Tears were streaming down Ali’s brovm 
cheeks, so the Sahib decided to let him 
have his own way. 

‘‘ All right, Ali, I will not try to take 
away your revolver again. 

“ You may go, men, and I will stay 
near by to help if Ali wants me.” 

‘‘ Thank you. Sahib. I shall be all 
right. You will be glad you trusted me. 
You will see.” 

Then Ali began a sort of soothing low- 
toned talking to Joie. The white man 
thought he had never heard a human voice 


JOIE GOES JVIAD 179 

so caressing, so gentle, so soothing, so full 
of comfort. 

“ Oh, Joie, old pal, you are all right, 
Joie. Joie is a good boy. Nothing can 
get Joie. This is Ali, your friend, Joie. 
You know Ali, he will help you. 

Don’t you remember Ali, Joie? He 
is your friend. Listen, Joie. The winds 
are sighing in the bamboo thicket, in the 
Malay land. Don’t you remember, Joie? 
This is Ali, Joie, Ali, your friend.” 

For at least an hour Ali kept up this 
musical monotone. With his words and 
with soft phrases he sought to play upon 
the fevered imagination of the poor ele¬ 
phant, and finally it had its result. For 
the next time that Joie advanced to the 
end of his rope, instead of striking Ali, 
he put out his trunk inquisitively. 

‘‘ Look out, Ali,” cried the Sahib. “ He 


180 


JUNGLE JOE 


is still mad. He may strike you any 
moment.” 

‘‘ No,” said Ali decidedly. ‘‘ He knows 
me. He will not strike me when he knows 
me. He is improving.” 

Then Joie went back to his old position, 
and Ali began all over again. 

“ Oh, Joie, old chap, this is Ali, your 
friend. Peace, Joie, peace. 

“ Nothing bad can get Joie. Ali will 
help Joie. Joie is all right. Peace, Joie, 
peace.” 

Over and over, again and again, Ali 
said the soothing words. The Sahib lis¬ 
tened to him for four hours and then went 
away to supper. 

“ Perhaps he is calming down a bit, 
Ali,” he said, before leaving, but you 
must be very careful. If he hurts you, I 
shall blame myself.” 


JOIE GOES MAD 


181 


After supper the white man went back 
to the mad elephant and his beloved mas¬ 
ter, and found Ali still crooning softly to 
him. 

To the Sahib it seemed that the voice 
of the boy was more like the sound of the 
winds and the waters than a human voice, 
and it was so soothing and restful that 
it made the Sahib sleepy to listen to it. 

Until eleven that night Ali stayed by 
the side of Joie, and all the time he kept 
up his incessant low talking and crooning 
to the elephant, just as though he had 
been a sick baby. 

Finally at eleven o’clock he went in 
beside Joie, and put his hand confidently 
upon his friend’s trunk, and Joie squeaked 
with delight. 

The tip of his trunk was moist, and he 
seemed perfectly normal. 


182 


JUNGLE JOE 


‘‘ Sahib,” cried Ali, “ come here quick, 
Joie is well.” 

The white man approached Joie rather 
cautiously, but was obliged to admit that 
he was much improved. 

“ He is well,” said Ali. “ I know it. 
The old priest said if we could get the 
wild creatures to know we loved them, 
and would help them we could do any¬ 
thing with them. That was how I stopped 
the mouth of the great tiger. But, oh. 
Sahib, I am so tired, I—I-” 

But Ali did not finish the sentence, for 
he fell forward into the strong arms of 
his friend in a dead swoon. It was sev¬ 
eral minutes before they could bring him 
to, and he was a very sick boy for two 
days. 

One morning he sat up in his berth, 
and said to the Sahib, “ I am well, Sahib, 




JOIE GOES MAD 


183 


I am well, and so is Joie. I want my 
clothes.” 

The white man felt the boy’s fore¬ 
head. The fever had entirely left him. 
He was still weak, but apparently all 
right. 

“ Fine, Ali,” said the Sahib. “ You 
shall have your clothes. Yes, I think Joie 
is all right. I saw him this morning.” 

Three days later both Joie and Ali 
were back in the ring doing their part in 
the performance. 


CHAPTER IX 


A PLUNGE IN THE DARK 

One of the great bugaboos of the circus 
man is a railroad wreck. 

Nearly every night during the circus 
season, from one o’clock in the morning 
until about daylight, the circus trains are 
on the move. 

These trains are always run as specials, 
and for that reason alone are more liable 
to accidents. Trains which are run upon 

I 

regular schedule get to be a part of the 
system, and almost run themselves, but 
with specials it is different, for much traf¬ 
fic is often sidetracked to make way for 
them. 

A man who had been twenty years with 

one of the largest and best-handled cir- 

184 


A PLUNGE IN THE DAKK 185 


cuses said that he had been in twenty-six 
railroad wrecks, and had come through 
safe-and sound, although he had experi¬ 
enced many bad shake-ups and had had 
many close calls. 

In the spring-time, when the heavy rains 
are falling, and streams and rivers are all 
swollen, this danger is the greatest. The 
spring freshets are sources of great an¬ 
noyance to the circus man, for in moving 
the heavy wagons to and from the depot, 
mud is the driver’s greatest obstacle. It 
is not an uncommon sight when one enters 
the great tent for the evening show to see 
all serene, and when one comes out, to 
find the circus grounds covered with pools 
of water. This spells mud, and all sorts 
of trouble for the circus people. 

Many a night Ali had stood in the pour¬ 
ing rain watching Sahib Anderson’s rain- 


186 


JimGLE JOE 


soaked figure as he stood at a command¬ 
ing position and superintended the haul¬ 
ing of the wagons from the muddy circus 
field. 

As a last resort, when all the horses had 
failed, the elephants had their large har¬ 
nesses put on them, and they would al¬ 
ways quickly extricate the wagons, their 
strength being enormous. 

But to Ali the wonderful thing about 
these wrestles with the mud was the mas¬ 
terly way in which the Sahib handled his 
men and teams. 

He was always cheerful, laughing and 
joking, and seemingly everywhere at once. 

Nothing escaped his keen eyes, and he 
always knew just how to get out of a 
hard place. The men all loved and ad¬ 
mired the Sahib, whom they did not call 
by that name, but the Big Boss. 


A PLUNGE IN THE DARK 187 


There was a saying among the drivers 
to the effect that a thing the Big Boss 
could not do was impossible, but they had 
never yet seen him admit that a thing was 
impossible. 

He would always laugh or smile when 
they told him that they were up against 
the impossible, and say cheerily, “ There 
ain’t no such animal in this circus. Go at 
it, boys; I am with you.” 

One rainy night in June during the 
tenth summer of Ali’s connection with the 
circus, the city where Ringden’s Great 
Circus was showing experienced a rain¬ 
storm which was almost a cloudburst. 

Getting the heavy wagons off the circus 
lot was almost an impossibility. There 
were as many as six wagons stuck in the 
mud up to the hubs at once. So it was 
very late in the night when the circus was 


188 


JUNGLE JOE 


finally loaded, and the men were a tired, 
sweaty, and muddy lot as they clambered 
into their respective cars and washed up 
for the night’s sleep. 

It was two o’clock before the section 
bearing Ali and Joie finally pulled out. 
This meant that the train was an hour 
later all along the line than it had been 
expected by the railroad officials. Freights 
trains were waiting for the circus-trains 
upon many sidings. 

The night was as dark as a stack of 
black cats, as old railroad men say. The 
engineers and firemen could see very little 
ahead of them. 

It was just a case of rushing along 
through the darkness, depending wholly 
upon the roadbed and the good steel rails. 
This is really what the trainmen always 
depend upon, but they do also depend 


A PLUNGE IN THE BAKE 189 


upon seeing dangers ahead when condi¬ 
tions are normal. 

So on that black night the engineer of 
the section carrying Ali and Joie sat 
grimly at his post, with his hand upon the 
throttle, gazing with straining eyes at the 
shaft of light along the rails ahead. But 
this light did not penetrate a quarter as 
far into the gloom as usual. 

Ali heard the cars bump over the 
switches, one after another, and then glide 
out upon the straight track. Gradually, 
the train gathered momentum, until it was 
finally rattling along at the usual rate, 
with the car-wheels singing their usual 
song of the singing rails, the lullaby that 
always put Ali to sleep nowadays. In 
fact he had gotten used to this lullaby of 
singing rails, and he could hardly sleep 
without it. 


190 


JUNGLE JOE 


So the train thundered along in the 
darkness. It raced joyously over stretches 
of level track. It climbed laboriously u]d 
steep grades, the two heavy engines pant¬ 
ing like human things at the great strain 
upon their powers. It rushed exultantly 
down long steep grades in the opposite 
direction. It thundered over long bridges 
and across short culverts. On, on, on, it 
sped through the darkness, and the man 
at the throttle still kept his hand upon the 
lever, and his eyes peering along the cylin¬ 
der of light sweeping the rails from the 
headlight. 

But little could he do save keep his 
hand upon the throttle, and his eyes and 
his mind upon the job. For the rest, they 
had to trust to the tracks, and to Provi¬ 
dence. 

The great danger this night was from 


A PLU:N^GE in the dark 191 


washouts, and they could not guard 
against them. 

The car in which Ali and Joie were rid¬ 
ing was the last car in the section. Usu¬ 
ally it had been in the middle of the train, 
but this night for some reason it was put 
on last. 

The first section had crossed the long 
bridge over a well-known river in central 
New York State five minutes before the 
middle section had reached it. Even then 
all the section but the last car passed 
safely. An investigation of the wreck 
afterwards did not for a certainty deter¬ 
mine just what was the cause of the acci¬ 
dent, but just as the last car, the car carry¬ 
ing Ali and Joie, reached the middle of 
the bridge, it jumped the track and 
plunged from the bridge, falling forty feet 
into the raging water beneath, where it 


192 


JUNGLE JOE 


sank from sight in twenty feet of water, 
almost as though it had been a stone. 

The commission said it might have been 
a broken coupling, or an imperfect rail, 
or a broken axle, but no one ever really 
knew. The only thing that was certain 
was that the car carrying Ali and Joie 
was lying in the mud at the bottom of the 
river in twenty feet of water. 

As it was a very hot night, and Ali had 
been sleeping lightly when the car which 
carried himself, along with Joie and two 
other elephants, toppled upon the bridge 
and hurtled into the river, he was awake 
almost before it struck the water. When 
the car finally settled at a slant of per¬ 
haps thirty degrees, and the water came 
pouring in up to Ali’s knees, he knew what 
had happened. 

But he was a child of the jungle, inured 


A PLU^^GE IN THE DAKK 193 


to hardship and danger. Self-preserva¬ 
tion was strong in him, just as it is in all 
people who live near to nature. In that 
respect they are always like the wild ani¬ 
mals. 

So Ali scrambled like a cat up the in¬ 
clined floor of the car and felt for the 
hasp that fastened the door on the inside. 
With a jerk he pulled out the toggle that 
held it, and then with all his strength 
began to slide back the great door. 

If he had opened the flood-gates of 
heaven the results would not have been 
worse. As Ali felt the waters surge in 
upon him, to overwhelm him, like the good 
swimmer that he was he took in a deep 
breath to fill his lungs to their capacity. 
Then he pushed again upon the door, and 
in another second he was outside in the 


open river. 


194 


erUNGLE JOE 


The current swept him about as though 
he had been a chip. It buffeted him this 
way and that. But with three or four 
strong strokes he came to the surface, and 
popx^ed up out of the water like a cork. 

Then the strong current seized him and 
bore him rapidly downstream. He did 
not try to breast it, but lay floating for 
at least a minute, trying to get his breath 
and his senses back, and to determine 
what to do. Then as he lay in the total 
darkness with this unknown river bearing 
him rapidly away from the bridge, a 
thought came to him that filled him with 
such dismay and grief as he had never felt 
before in his whole life. For a moment it 
paralyzed him so that he could not even 
think. 

In his great haste to save his own life 
he had forgotten Joie. Faithful, loving 


A PLUNGE IN THE DAKK 195 


Joie that had always stuck so faithfully 
by him. 

Like a mean, selfish brute he had scram¬ 
bled to safety and left his friend to 
drown. He felt sure that Joie would not 
push the door open and thus escape to 
freedom. If he had been outside, he 
would have been all right, but there he 
was like a rat in a trap. Oh, Joie, Joie, 
Joie! He must surely drown. 

As the full significance of this thought 
came home to Ali, he wheeled about in the 
swift current and started to swim back 
upstream. But he made slow headway. 
Besides he did not know whether he had 
drifted straight downstream or not. He 
could not tell within a hundred feet when 
he had gotten back to where the car sank. 
Even if he could reach the exact spot, he 
probably could not find the car by diving. 


196 JUISTGLE JOE 

Oh, no, no, no! It was hopeless. He 
had forsaken Joie, and Joie was drowned. 
There was not a ghost of a chance that he 
could have escaped. 

At this thought, Ali’s strength gave 
way, and he lay upon the dark current, 
sobbing as though his heart would break. 

He had been false. He had been a 
traitor. He had forsaken Joie. 

He was so taken up with his grief that 
he did not mind where the current took 
him. He did not care. He might as well 
drown, too, if Joie was gone. Oh, why had 
he been so selfish and so thoughtless! Joie 
had always been so good to him. How 
he loved Joie! He and the Sahib were 
all he had in the whole world that he really 
cared about. Joie! Joie! 

Then the current took the tortured body 
of poor Ali and whirled it about and 


A PLUNGE IN THE DARK 197 


about, and he only paddled feebly. Just 
enough to keep afloat. 

Then he felt a sharp pain in his head. 
He saw stars. He felt sick and queer. 
Something had hit him on his head. It 
had nearly knocked his brains out. For a 
second he lay lifeless upon the dark rush¬ 
ing waters. Then he began slowly to 
sink. Good swimmer that he was, he knew 
full well what was about to happen. He 
had lost his nerve and his strength, and 
was going to the bottom. He was going 
to drown. 

There is, deep-seated in all animals and 
in men, a sense of self-preservation, that 
in that last dreadful instant man instinc¬ 
tively turns to the great power over all, 
to God. This causes the animal to cry 
out in a last appealing cry for help, and 
the man to cry out as well; the man’s cry 


198 


JUI^^^GLE JOE 


is more in the form of a prayer. A cry 
for help from God. 

So as the dark waters drew him down, 
Ali lifted up his voice in a wild cry that 
pierced the night like a bolt of lightning, 
yet he knew there was no one near to hear 
or to help. But the cry had hardly died 
upon his lips and his head had not yet 
disappeared beneath the water when a 
great bulky form rushed towards him in 
the water, and a strong subtle something 
that seemed very familiar was wound 
about his waist with a strong grip, and 
placed him gently upon a broad back. A 
back that no mere flood could submerge. 

For a second Ali sat gasping and feel¬ 
ing frantically about him. Then the great 
arm that had saved him came feeling 
gently for his face and hands. 

“ Oh, Joie, Joie,” sobbed the bewil- 


A PLUNGE IN THE DARK 199 


dered, yet delighted boy. “ You have 
saved me. You have saved me.’’ 

Ali himself might swim helplessly about 
in the water because he did not know where 
the shore was, but not Joie. He struck 
out as straight for the nearest shore as 
though it had been full daylight, and five 
minutes later clambered upon the bank. 

Ali did not try to guide Joie, because 
he knew that Joie was much wiser in the 
dark than he, so Joie presently headed di¬ 
rectly into a deep woods which fringed the 
river. 

Although it was as dark as dark could 
be in the forest, yet Joie did not seem to 
mind it. He went without running into 
anything, and almost without noise. He 
was a wild animal again, threading the 
Malay jungles, and Ali, perhaps he also 
was a Malay boy, back in the old jungle. 


200 


JUNGLE JOE 


After about ten minutes of travel, Joie 
found a spot that suited him and he 
stopped. It was a dense pine grove, with 
little underbrush. The air was fragrant 
with the pine needles. Ali took in a deep 
breath, and then slid from the back of 
Joie. 

He found in feeling around that the 
ground was nearly dry because of the 
thick cover overhead. So he lay down 
upon the pine needles while Joie lay down 
beside him, and they slept the sleep of 
great exhaustion. 

When Ali awoke the birds were singing 
in the tree-tops, and the rays of the morn¬ 
ing sun were falling aslant through the 
branches. So he got up hastily, and gave 
Joie the sign to lift him upon his back. 
Then they headed towards the river. 

To Ali’s great astonishment, when they 


A PLUNGE IN THE DAEK 201 

appeared upon the bank just below the 
bridge they discovered Sahib Anderson 
and two other men with a boat, dragging 
the river. For a moment Ali could not 
think what they were doing, but when the 
solemn import of their labors came home 
to him, he returned thanks to Allah for 
his marvelous escape. 

Then a broad grin overspread his face; 
and he called, “ Hello, Sahib, are you fish¬ 
ing for crocodiles? ” 

It was a joyous boat-party that came 
ashore and greeted Ali and Joie. 

When the excitement of the glad meet¬ 
ing had passed, Ali told his story, and 
all petted Joie, and he was quite the hero 
of the occasion. 

“ Gracious,” said Sahib Anderson, 
presently, looking at his watch. “ I shall 
have to hire an engine and a freight-car 


202 


JUNGLE JOE 


to take you to our next stand, Ali. Your 
act is due at two-thirty.” 

“ How far is it? ” asked Ali. 

“ Thirty miles,” said the Sahib. 

“We shall not need a freight-car,” said 
Ali. “ Joie and I can make it all right. 
Here, Joie, give me a lift.” 

So Joie again reached down with his 
strong trunk and lifted Ali to his broad 

back. 

“ Think you can make it, lad? ” asked 
the Sahib doubtfully. 

“ Sure, Sahib. Don’t you worry. Joie 
and I will be there.” And he was as good 
as his word. 



“Hello, Sahib, are you fishing for crocodiles?’' 

Page 201. 





CHAPTER X 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGEKS 

The most-hated word in the English 
language to the circus people is “ mud.” 
Although the advance agent always ex¬ 
amines the circus lot with the greatest care 
before renting it, yet he cannot always 
tell whether certain soil will develop mud 
or not under heavy rain. So it occasion¬ 
ally happens that the circus finds itself 
literally “up to the hubs ” in mud after 
the night show. Then there is nothing to 
do but to turn to, as only circus people 
know how, and drag the wagons by main 
strength to solid ground. 

The last resort after the horses have 

failed is the elephants. These great 

creatures are very much at home in the 

203 


204 


JUISTGLE JOE 


mud, as they wallow in it in their wild 
state. Their great padded feet also do 
not sink in the mud as do the sharp hoofs 
of the horses, so the elephants can always 
do the trick after even six horses have 
failed. 

Every circus carries several large ele¬ 
phant-harnesses, and the patient pachy¬ 
derms are always ready to haul the heavy 
wagons to safety. 

This is often very annoying to the 
teamsters, who are justly proud of their 
fine horses. So it happens that there is 
often much rivalry between the elephant- 
drivers and handlers and the teamsters, for 
the elephant partisans usually laugh at 
the teamsters when the beasts pull the 
wagons to safe ground. 

Thus it happened that Sahib Anderson 
and one of the oldest teamsters got to 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGERS 205 

“ joUying ” each other as to the relative 
merits of elephants and horses on a dead 
pull. 

Finally the rivalry and the arguments 
became so heated that Mr. Anderson of¬ 
fered to bet the teamster five hundred dol¬ 
lars that little Joie, as he called him, could 
outpull four of the circus’s best horses. 
The teamsters were wild at such a dare 
and quickly raised a purse of five hundred 
dollars to cover the five hundred that the 
Sahib had put up. 

Thus it came about that Joie, who had 
no idea of the great stake at risk, and who 
only knew that his master Ali seemed 
much excited, was led out to a vacant lot 
near the circus ground, and the smallest of 
the elephant-harnesses put upon him. 
Four of the circus horses were waiting 
with their tails to his. They were as fine 


206 JUNGLE JOE 

a lot of draft-horses as could well be 
imagined. Not too heavy, about twelve 
hundred each, but each horse was all 
muscle, and in the pink of condition. 

Mr. Anderson was in great spirits and 
laughed and joked as they made ready for 
the test, but Ali was very anxious when 
he looked at the eager, restive horses, each 
ready to spring into the harness at the 
word. He was afraid they would pull 
Joie off his feet, and get the start before 
he realized what was wanted of him. 

So Ali talked to Joie and tried to get 
into his mind what was wanted. He care¬ 
fully adjusted the harness, and slapped 
Joie’s cheeks, and tweaked his ears. 

Then he stepped forward in front of 
Joie and beckoned him forward for a step. 
He repeated this process several times, 
each time putting his very soul into his 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGERS 207 

voice in a heartfelt entreaty to Joie to 
pull. When he was sure that Joie fully 
understood they made ready for the test. 

This was not Joie’s first attempt at pull¬ 
ing, for he had often helped with the 
wagons, when they had been set, but he 
had never figured in any such contest as 
this before. 

Finally everything was in readiness, and 
Sahib Anderson, who was acting as 
starter, cried, ‘‘ Go! ” 

The two drivers of the four-horse team 
had been flicking the horses with their 
whips while the preparations had been go¬ 
ing on, so that when the word was finally 
given they were fairly dancing in their 
harnesses. 

At the word to pull, the two heavy 
whips descended upon the horses and they 
sprang like tigers into their collars. 


208 


JUNGLE JOE 


The well-trained draft-horses bent low 
to the ground and strained with all their 
strength upon their harnesses. The great 
muscles on their shoulders and hips could 
be seen to writhe under their skins, while 
the evener squeaked with the strain. Dirt 
and turf flew beneath the hoofs of the four 
frantically straining horses. 

Joie and Ali were swept off theii* feet 
by the suddenness of the attack. They 
had not expected such a whirlwind be¬ 
ginning. So Joie was slowly, inch by inch, 
drawn backward about two feet, or one- 
fifth of the entire pull which was ten feet. 
The supporters of the horses who had 
gathered to see the great pull shouted 
themselves hoarse, and Ali grew desperate. 

Then a bright idea came to Sahib An¬ 
derson. “ Shout ‘ whoa ’ to him, Ali, 


shout ‘ whoa.’ ” 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGERS 209 


“ Whoa, whoa, whoa, Joie, whoa, Joie! ” 
cried Ali, dancing up and down before his 
bewildered friend. 

The great breast-collar was cutting into 
Joie’s chest so that he thought it would 
cut through his skin. He had hauled 
upon heavy wagons before, but never had 
a wagon acted like this one. Wagons had 
never tried to pull him backward. 

Finally the desperately straining Joie 
got it into his head that Ali wanted him 

to whoa, so he braced his sturdy legs like 
four small trees and the backward swing 

of the four horses was stopped as sud¬ 
denly as though they had come up against 
the rock of Gibraltar. 

“ That’s the stuff, Ali. That’s the 
trick!” shouted the Sahib. “Now hold 
them. Just let them pull their heads off; 
then we will show them.” 


210 JUNGLE JOE 

The teamsters called to their horses, 
and again the heavy whips fell. The des¬ 
perate horses bent to earth and strained to 
the last ounce of their strength, but they 
could not stir Joie another inch. The 
crowd who had favored the horses began 
to look serious, while the elephant-sympa¬ 
thizers went wild. 

Sweat came out upon the flanks of the 
horses and they began to slip and to give 
back upon the traces, just as a team will 
when they realize they are up against a 
dead set. 

“Now you have got ’em, Ali!” cried 
Mr. Anderson. “ Tell Joie to go to it. 
We’ll show them! We’ll let them see 
what they are up against.” 

“Get up, Joie, get up!” cried Ali. 
Then he went in front of Joie and called 
to him in his most persuasive voice. 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGERS 211 


“ Joie, come to Ali. Oh, come, Joie, 
come to Ali! ” 

The straining elephant looked at him 
dumbly. Then the words seemed to pene¬ 
trate to his hard-working mind, although 
the great strain seemed to make him partly 
deaf. 

His master wanted him to come to him. 
How could he with such a load pulling 
on him? But Ali said ‘‘ Come! ” and Joie 
would come to the last ounce of his great 
strength, for he loved Ali more than all 
the rest of the world. 

He began swaying slowly from side to 
side, first an inch or two and then three 
or four, his mighty frame feeling out the 
load with each sway. A quiver was seen 
to run through him, as though he called 
upon his full power. Then, very slightly 
at first, but as the seconds passed, more 


212 


JUNGLE JOE 


and more perceptibly, the elephant moved 
forward. 

The teamsters shouted themselves hoarse 
and plied their whips but it was no use. 
Ali was calling, “ Come, Joie! ” and Joie 
would come if it killed him. 

Then one of the horses slipped and the 
others began to lose heart. From that 
point Joie walked them slowly back, not 
only ten feet but twenty, while the ele¬ 
phant-supporters shouted and threw up 
their hats. 

When the pull was over, the head team¬ 
ster came to Ali and shook his hand, and 
slapped Joie’s sides. 

‘‘ I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said. 

That elephant is some horse after all.” 

But the great surprise to Ali came 
when Mr. Anderson placed the fat pocket- 
book containing five hundred dollars in 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGEKS 213 

his hand. “ You keep it, Ali,” he said. 

Joie and you have earned it.” 

The second wager won by Joie was 
gained in quite a different way from the 
first. Then it had been a test of mere 
strength, but this time it was endurance 
and fleetness. One would not naturally 
associate fleetness with any animal so 
ponderous as an elephant, but when one 
also takes into consideration the quality 
of endurance, that is a different ques¬ 
tion. 

One winter when the circus was in its 
headquarters near Pasadena, California, 
Sahib Anderson and Ali were in the 
stables looking at the horses. They had 
come at the invitation of one Ben Abi, a 
Bedouin horseman of great renown. He 
had invited Ali and the Sahib to the 


214 


JUISTGLE JOE 


stables to see his beautiful Arab mare, 
Black Araby. 

As the three animal-admirers stood by 
the beautiful horse, the Sahib remarked 
casually, “Yes, she is a wonderful horse, 
the most beautiful one I ever saw. I 
doubt if there is a finer horse anywhere.” 

“ She is not only that, but she is the 
fleetest animal in the whole world,” said 
Ben Abi with feeling. 

" “ Yes,” returned Mr. Anderson. “ She 
probably would be for a short distance, or 
half-a-day’s run, but I am wondering if 
one of the smaller elephants would not 
beat her in a long run.” 

Ben Abi’s eyes snapped, and he rubbed 
his hands together gleefull5^ 

“ No, Mr. Anderson, the animal does 
not live that can outrun Black Araby for 
a short distance or long. I will wager you 


JOIE wms TWO WAGERS 215 

five hundred dollars on Black Araby for 
fifty miles.’’ 

“ Make it a hundred miles and I will 
take you.” 

“ The bet is on,” said Ben Abi simply. 
“ We will start in the morning.” 

And that was how Joie got his special 
bath that afternoon instead of a week 
later. This was not a simple dousing with 
a bucket of water, or a sprinkling with a 
hose, but a real bath, such as all the ele¬ 
phants get every four months. Joie was 
first soaped with fifty pounds of the best 
soap; he was lathered until he looked like 
a mountain of soap-bubbles and cream. 
When that had dried, he was sandpapered, 
so as to get off all the grit and loose skin. 
Then he was oiled with fifty pounds of 
the best olive-oil. That was to put him 
in the very best nature, as Sahib Ander- 


216 


JUNGLE JOE 


son said. The Sahib understood a great 
many things. 

Promptly at sunrise on the following 
morning the start was made. It was not 
very spectacular as a race, judging from 
the start. Ben Abi mounted upon his 
shining Black Araby, and dressed in his 
resplendent Bedouin riding-dress, can¬ 
tered away at a fast pace, while Ali, 
mounted upon Joie, went at a steady pace 
of perhaps nine miles an hour. Ali was 
seated upon a blanket on Joie’s back, the 
howdah having been discarded. 

“You talk to him and sing to him and 
keep up his spirits. Just make him think 
it is a picnic all the way,” said the Sahib. 
“ If you can keep his mind off the fact 
that he is making a long journey he will 
keep up that pace all the way. Don’t be 
discouraged if Ben Abi makes the first 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGERS 217 

fifty miles five miles ahead of you. He 
probably will. But we will beat him on 
the last ten miles, or perhaps the last five. 

“ Good luck, boy. God keep you.” 

Thus Ali and Joie started on the first 
lap of the long, hard run for the purse of 
five hundred dollars. 

The course was across a desert of per¬ 
haps twenty miles, along a little-used 
road, then over a mountain trail for ten 
miles, and up a valley on the farther side 
for twenty more, to the little town of 
Prago. This was the first leg, and the 
second was to return along the same 
course. \ 

When Ali reached the outskirts of the 
town and turned into the desert trail he 
could barely see Ben Abi and Black 
Araby. They were probably three miles 
away, but Ali was not discouraged. This 


218 JUNGLE JOE 

was not a race to the swift, but to the 
strong, the stout-hearted, to those who 
kept plodding and did not lose heart. 

Once they were well upon the desert 
trail, Ali began talking to Joie. Now if 
there was anything in the world that Joie 
liked better than all else it was to have 
Ali talk to him, and pet him. So Ali 
talked and talked. 

“ Oh, Joie, old boy, the best old ele¬ 
phant in the world. We’ll show that old 
Araby, ha, Joie! We’ll show them, won’t 
we, Joie? ” 

As he talked he slapped Joie’s sides and 
tweaked his ears. Then Joie, at Ali’s 
bidding, reached around with his trunk 
and took his master on his head. Here Ali 
could better converse with his friend. 

When he had prattled away for half an 
hour, partly in English and partly in ele- 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGERS 219 


phant talk, Ali began to sing. He sang 
in his native tongue, the folk-songs of the 
Malay land. He sang the song of the 
Malay mother to her sleeping babe, as she 
rocks it upon her knee. He sang the song 
of the Malay boatman as he rows upon 
the great river. . He sang of the Malay 
hunter as he goes away into the jungle. 
He sang of spirits good and bad, and of 
the stars and the moon and the winds in 
far-away Malay land. His voice was low 
and sweet, and it sounded more like the 
winds in the bamboo-tops, or like the mur¬ 
muring waters of a great river than a 
human voice. 

Somehow he and Joie were carried back 
to the Malay land. To the land of the 
plains and the great jungles, to the blue 
sky and the rice-fields. So for the time 
they were not Ali and Joie running a 


220 


JTOGLE JOE 


desperate race in California, but Ali, the 
prince, and Joie, the sacred elephant, go¬ 
ing on a pleasant journey. 

Thus it happened that Joie and Ali 
forgot the long miles and the hot sun and 
their thirst, for they were living in a 
dream, a wonderful dream of the past, and 
of the beautiful lazy life in Malay land. 

When the mountain ahead finally 
loomed up, Ben Abi and Black Araby 
were nowhere to be seen, but Ali did not 
care. 

Singing and laughing, he and Joie 
mounted the steep trail and crossed the 
mountain and then sped along the valley 
trail. 

As Sahib Anderson had prophesied, 
Ben Abi was far ahead at the end of the 
first lap, but Ali noted to his surprise that 
Black Araby was dripping with sweat. 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGERS 221 

and seemed rather badly blown. Ben 
Abi saluted and cried, “Good-bye!” as 
he passed, thinking that he had surely won 
the race. 

But Ali and Joie kept right on at their 
steady pace of nine miles an hour. They 
rested five minutes, and Ali gave Joie a 
rather stingy drink of water, and they 
were off for the return run. 

When they reached the crest of the 
mountain, Ben Abi and Black Araby were 
three miles away at the foot. They had 
gained two miles and Ali was much elated. 
In the race across the desert they closed 
up the gap to within a hundred yards, so if 
they won it would be on the last five miles. 

Ali noted as he turned off the desert 
trail that Black Araby was acting 
strangely. Ben Abi was having difficulty 
in keeping her in the road. She was zig- 


222 


JUNGLE JOE 


zagging this way and that. Finally as 
the surprised boy watched, the beautiful 
mare was seen to fall heavily. Ali saw 
Ben Abi kneeling by her side. As he and 
Joie came up a wild cry escaped from the 
lips of the Bedouin and he wrung his 
hands. “ Oh, Black Araby,” he cried, 
“ Black Araby, I have killed you! ” 

Ali dismounted and went to them. 
“ What is the matter, Ben Abi? ” he asked, 
sympathy in his voice. 

For answer the Bedouin pointed to a 
pool of blood beneath the beautiful Arab’s 
mouth, which Ali had not noticed. 

“ She is dead, Ali. She is dead! ” wailed 
the Bedouin. She had burst a blood¬ 
vessel. 

Ali had heard much about the love of 
the Arab for his horse, but he was not 
prepared to see the Bedouin throw himself 


JOIE WINS TWO WAGEES 223 


upon the ground beside his horse and bury 
his face in her mane and weep like a child. 

The race was forgotten and Ali stood 
a helpless spectator of the Bedouin’s grief. 

Finally when it had passed Ali invited 
the Arab to get up beside him upon Joie’s 
back, and together they rode into Pasa¬ 
dena, the vanquished upon the back of the 
victor’s steed. A strange race, indeed. 

The following day Sahib Anderson and 
Ali went to a stock farm near by and with 
the wager-money purchased Ben Abi the 
best mare they could find, but she was not 
another Black Araby, for that fleet steed 
had gone the way of all horses. She had 
been killed in her tracks by a great plod¬ 
ding pachyderm, but Joie, the victor, was 
footsore for a week. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE GREAT TIGER-HUNT 

During the winter of the eleventh year 
of the sojourn of the jungle people with 
the great circus of Ringden Brothers, 
Queenie, the tigress that had been cap¬ 
tured by Sahib Anderson and his men in 
the Malay jungle and that had come to 
America with the rest of the jungle peo¬ 
ple, ‘‘ went bad.’’ She killed her keeper, 
the man who had taken care of her all that 
time. She also so badly mauled his suc¬ 
cessor that the management of the circus 
decided to get rid of her. 

Just across the city of Los Angeles 
from Pasadena is the great moving-pic¬ 
ture headquarters at Hollywood. These 

wide-awake people are always on the look- 

224 


THE GREAT TIGER-HUNT 225 


out for novelties in moving-pictures, so 
the manager of the Imperial Co., when 
he heard that Queenie was to be disposed 
of, proposed to the manager of the circus 
that a great tiger-hunt be staged and that 
his company be allowed to make a movie 
of it. 

He followed up the suggestion with a 
generous check, so the offer was accepted. 

It was a strange array of people who 
marched on the appointed morning to the 
jungle that the moving-picture man had 
planted several years before upon a small 
river about twenty miles from the city. 
This jungle was as perfect as man’s in¬ 
genuity could make it. It contained many 
of the trees and shrubs of the real Malay 
jungle, and a troop of monkeys had been 
let loose in the trees for the occasion. 

At the head of this tiger-hunting ex- 


226 


JUNGLE JOE 


pedition went the great circus-wagon con¬ 
taining the tigress’s cage. This was fol¬ 
lowed by Joie, with Ali and Sahib An¬ 
derson on his back. Also another larger 
elephant was taken along to help in beat¬ 
ing the jungle, and for effect in making 
the moving-picture. 

Mr. Anderson had on the hunting-togs 
of a rich English sportsman, while Ali was 
dressed like an Indian prince. The men 
upon the other elephant had picturesque 
oriental costumes. There were also ten 
Malays who had been brought along as 
jungle-beaters, dressed in the costume 
of their people and armed with spears and 
bows. 

After them came the moving-picture 
people with their cameras, as well as half 
a dozen newspaper men, also armed with 


cameras. 


THE GREAT TIGER-HUNT 227 


First the movie people got a picture of 
the two elephants and their drivers, and 
also the jungle-beaters. 

When everything was in readiness, the 
wagon containing Queenie was driven to 
the desired position and the camera men, 
not without some fear, took their positions 
and the great beast was released. They 
got a fine picture of her making for the 
deep cover, and without showing the 
wagon from which she had just sprung. 

Then they hurried farther along beside 
the jungle to some open spots and got 
more pictures of the tigress making her 
way cautiously through the jungle, with 
the jungle-beaters on foot and those upon 
the large elephant slowly pursuing her. 
Then the camera men went around to the 
farther end of the thick cover where Mr. 
Anderson and Ali were waiting upon the 


228 


jm^^aLE JOE 


back of Joie. This was the point where 
Mr. Anderson was to shoot the tigress 
and the hunt was to end. 

The camera men were all in position. 
Mr. Anderson and Ali were ready, and 
they could hear the shouts of the jungle- 
beaters. 

Mr. Anderson was kneeling in the how- 
dah, so as to give a fine picture, when 
the great tigress finally broke from cover 
and charged straight at them. This was 
fine, and the cameras clicked merrily. But 
here the unexpected happened, and what 
was to have been a splendid ending for the 
hunters was turned into a pandemonium, 
with every one fleeing for his life. For 
just as Sahib Anderson’s finger pressed 
the trigger, Queenie threw up her head 
and turned sharply, so what was intended 
as a bullet through the head, which would 


THE GREAT TIGER-HUHT 229 


have ended the tiger-hunt then and there, 
she received a glancing blow upon the 
shoulder, which did little except to in¬ 
furiate her. 

With a roar that fairly froze the blood 
of the camera men in their veins, the in¬ 
furiated tigress charged straight for Joie. 

Now while Joie was not gun-shy, and 
he was a very clever elephant and not 
easily frightened, yet this was too much for 
him, so with a wild trumpet of fear he 
bolted. 

Mr. Anderson, who had been kneeling 
in the howdah so as to help out the pic¬ 
ture, lost his balance and fell to the 
ground, striking upon his right shoulder, 
and putting his right arm out of commis¬ 
sion. This made his rifle, which was the 
only heavy rifle in the party, useless. 

So Queenie charged straight through 


230 


JUNGLE JOE 


the party of camera men and newspaper 
men, merely getting a fusillade of hastily 
fired revolver-bullets, which did little 
harm. 

Most of the spectators did not wait 
to see what happened, but ran for their 
lives, some of the newspaper men even 
throwing away their cameras. 

Twenty seconds later the tigress was 
disappearing into the jungle a score of 
rods away. 

“ Go after her, Ali! You and Joie keep 
her in sight,” cried Mr. Anderson, who 
had gained his feet by this time, and had 
come up to Joie and Ali, who did not 
retreat very far, as Ali had gotten Joie 
under control after the first mad dash. 

f 

“ All right. You follow on as fast as 
you can. I will try to keep her in sight.” 

Luckily for Joie and Ali, the small im- 





So Queenie charged straight through the party of 

CAMERA Page 230 , 









THE GEEAT TIGEE-HUNT 231 


pro vised jungle ended about fifty rods 
farther up the river, so the tigress was 
there obliged to come out into the open. 
She then followed along the small river 
for a couple of miles and then struck off 
across the fertile farming land through a 
forty-acre lot of asparagus. After that 
a prune-orchard was traversed. Then an¬ 
other asparagus-field, and this was fol¬ 
lowed by an orange-grove, and then an¬ 
other prune-orchard. 

Some of the farm laborers gazed fear¬ 
fully at the great tigress pursued by the 
elephant, while others fled precipitately. 
But the people in this country so near to 
Hollywood were used to strange sights, 
so most concluded that it was a moving- 
picture stunt. 

Finally Queenie came to a desert, the 
same desert that Ali and Ben Abi had 


232 


JU:NaLE JOE 


traversed on the great race, only this was 
much farther out from the city. Faint 
and far away to the northeast Ali could 
see a distant mountain. The tigress was 
quick to discover it also, and headed 
straight in that direction. Probably to her 
wild intelligence the distant mountain 
looked like a place of refuge from her 
pursuers. 

No one joined in the chase. In fact, 

t 

Ali and Joie and the tigress passed so 
quickly that there was no time to organize 
a hunt. 

On, on, all through the afternoon they 
raced towards the mountain, the tigress 
leading the way and Joie and Ali follow¬ 
ing doggedly. All the tiger-hunting in¬ 
stincts of Joie’s ancestors seemed to come 
to his help in this race. It did not deter 
Ali because he did not know just where 


THE GEEAT TIGEE-HUNT 233 

he was going, or into what dreadful ad¬ 
venture the pursuit might lead him. The 
Sahib was Ali’s general, and good soldiers 
always obey their generals. Besides, Ali 
did not doubt that the Sahib would soon 
organize a party and follow. He might 
even now be just behind them a few miles 
away. He had never failed him yet and 
he would not this time. He was a won¬ 
derful man. 

Just as the long purple shadows of 
sunset were stretching across the Cali¬ 
fornian desert, the tigress reached the 
mountain towards which she had been 
bending her steps, closely followed by Ali 
and Joie. 

Here she left the highway and struck 
into a canyon leading at right angles to 
the road. Joie and Ali followed, although 
the going was rough. For half an hour 


234 


JUNGLE JOE 


they followed the great cat along the can¬ 
yon through the growing darkness. Fi¬ 
nally the trail led down a steep declivity 
where Joie could barely keep his feet. 
But as the descent was only about forty 
feet Ali let him go. 

They had covered about half the dis¬ 
tance to the bottom when the treacherous 
shale gave way beneath the elephant’s 
feet and he and Ali went plunging to the 
bottom. Ali could do nothing to save 
himself but cling to the howdah for dear 
life. It was all over in a second, and ele¬ 
phant and boy were piled up in a heap 
at the bottom of the incline. 

Ali felt a queer, sick, faint sensation; 
the mountains about him faded, and all 
was dark. He did not know how long he 
lay there, but when he opened his eyes 
the stars were blinking above them and 


THE GEEAT TIGEK-HUNT 235 


Joie was standing over him caressing his 
face with his trunk. But when Ali tried 
to rise, his right ankle hurt so that he could 
not, and his left arm was also nearly help¬ 
less. 

For hours he lay there, alternately nurs¬ 
ing his swollen ankle and his shoulder and 
looking at the stars. 

Joie also had a bad limp showing that 
he, too, had been lamed by the fall. 

Ali was tormented with fever and thirst. 
He could hear a little stream trickling 
among the rocks near by. Once Joie went 
to it and slaked his own thirst, but that 
did not help Ali. 

Joie seemed much troubled that Ali did 
not arise, and caressed him with his trunk 
and squeaked his endearments in a most 
affectionate manner. 

Thus the weary hours wore away until 


236 


JUNGLE JOE 


dawn came and the stars disappeared and 
the sun’s rays fell into their chasm. 

Where was the Sahib? Ali knew he 
would follow on and discover them as soon 
as he could. 

Finally Ali remembered his revolver. 
Three shots in quick succession was the 
signal of distress the world over. So he 
sent the echoes ringing through the can¬ 
yon. He repeated this signal every half- 
hour until noon. 

All the rest of that day and through 
the following night Ali and Joie were 
marooned in the canyon. 

About nine o’clock in the evening Ali 
fell into a fitful sleep during which he 
had a bad dream. In a way this dream 
was like the one he had had eleven years be¬ 
fore in the bamboo thicket in Malay land; 
the time when the great tiger had crept 


THE GREAT TIGER-HUNT 237 

upon him to kill him and eat him. Then, 
the danger had been on his own level, but 
now it was from above. He seemed to 
be able to look backward over his head 
and see the great cat creeping from boul¬ 
der to boulder on the cliffs above. Finally 
it came to the edge and glared down upon 
him with fiery eyes. He tried to move or 
cry out, but could not stir a muscle. He 
thought the tigress was on their trail and 
was crouching at the top of the cliff to 
spring upon them. Ali’s dream was 
partly real and partly true, for a great 
cat was creeping upon them, but it was not 
the tigress but a mountain lion. 

Joie was very much awake and alert and 

saw the great beast crouching on the ledge 

ready for the spring and was ready for 

* 

it. He caught the lion full upon his 
tusks and threw it high in air and then 


238 


JUNGLE JOE 


caught it by his trunk as it fell and 
brought it down upon the ground with a 
terrible thud. 

His roar of rage awoke Ali who came 
to his assistanee with two shots from his 
revolver while the lion was still stunned. 
The shots, together with Joie’s maul¬ 
ing, soon finished the lion. Joie was so 
infuriated because his trunk had been 
seratched that he would have stamped the 
lion into jelly but Ali would not let him, 
as he wished to keep the trophy. 

The following noon, after Ali had be¬ 
gun to despair of their rescue, he heard 
three shots in quick succession and he joy¬ 
ously answered the signal in kind. Ten 
minutes later the Sahib, aeeompanied by 
a dozen cow-punehers, rode down the can¬ 
yon and discovered Ali and Joie. 

Joie and Ali had bagged a lion all un- 


THE GKEAT TIGER-HUNT 239 

aided and were hailed as heroes, but it 
was not until a week later, when a great 
hunt was organized and a pack of hounds 
employed, that Queenie was finally 
brought to bay in a blind canyon and shot 
by the Sahib. 

Thus ended the great tiger-hunt, the 
first and only tiger-hunt ever staged in 
California. 


CHAPTER XII 


ALI AND JOIE FIND A HOME 

Ajli and Mr. Anderson had been ad¬ 
miring the circus-wagons, which were as 
bright and shiny as new paint could make 
them. Ever since the great Ringden 
Brothers circus had gone into winter- 
quarters in November, the circus people 
who had not gone home had been working 
on the outfit. 

All the wagons had been painted and 
the cages gilded, the harnesses mended 
and blacked, and the buckles polished. 
The camels and elephants had new trap¬ 
pings, and all the equestrian and aerial 
performers had new costumes. The 
clowns had been made gorgeous by colored 

suits; even the tenting had been over- 

240 


FINDING A HOME 


241 


hauled, and the stakes, chains, and seats 
looked after. The blacksmith-shop and 
the barber-shop had new equipment, while 
the dining-room had an entire new set of 
dishes. Circus people are always break¬ 
ing dishes. Rarely does a circus man eat 
off a whole plate, or drink out of a per¬ 
fect cup. 

Ali and Mr. Anderson were now sitting 
upon some overturned nail-kegs on the 
south side of the big wagon-house, enjoy¬ 
ing the March sunshine, and it was really 
warm, for this was California, and the 
roses were in full bloom. 

“ It won’t be long before we’ll be on 
the road,” remarked Mr. Anderson after 
a long pause. “We usually get started 
about the last of March so as to get around 
to Madison Square late in April.” 

“ That’s so,” said Ali. “ I’ll be glad 


242 


JUNGLE JOE 


to be at work again. It’s a great life; full 
of excitement.” 

“ Yes,” returned Mr. Anderson; 
“ there’s excitement enough and hard 
work also. I’ve been thinking of late that 
this circus life is too hard for you, Ali. 
You know you have had malaria, and for 
the past two summers riding in the hot 
sleepers at night and working so hard in 
hot weather does not seem to agree with 
you.” 

Ali sighed. “ Yes, Sahib,” he said, “ it 
is hard work, but I like it.” 

“ I’ve been thinking,” continued Mr. 
Anderson, “ that if I could find just the 
right sort of a job for you and Joie it 
would be better than the circus life; I 
mean a position, with some animal park 
or zoo.” 

“ Of course I would do just what you 


FINDING A HOME 243 

say, Sahib,” returned Ali. “ I am sure 
you know best. You know everything.” 

The man reached over and squeezed the 
boy’s hand affectionately. ‘‘All right, 
sonny,” he said, “ we’ll see.” 

All unknown to Ali and Mr. Ander¬ 
son, just the right position for Joie and 
the boy was being prepared at that very 
moment in far-away New England, in 
the beautiful city of Springdale, close to 
a majestic river, celebrated in song and 
story. The city fathers were discussing 
the advisability of securing an elephant 
for the park. When all the arguments, 
pro and con, had been heard, the city 
voted unanimously for the elephant; and 
thereby Ali and Joie’s destinies were 
changed. 

When the morning papers of Spring- 
dale announced the decision, the excite- 


244 


JUNGLE JOE 


ment among the young people in that city 
was tremendous. 

Beany and Stubby and Fatty, three of 
her wide-awake boys meeting on a street 
corner, gave vent to their excitement. 

“ Say, fellows,” cried Beany, hailing his 
friends with a flourish of his hands, “ ain’t 
it great that the city has voted for the ele¬ 
phant? ” 

“ You bet,” chorused his chums. 
“Fellows,” said Fatty, “teacher says 

that we can each of us buy a part of the 

» _ 

elephant. I’m goin’ to put in a quarter. 
Would that buy one hair on him? ” 

For answer his chums broke into peals 
of laughter. “ Hey, Fatty,” cried Stubby, 
poking his friend in the ribs, “ where was 
you brought up? Don’t you know ele¬ 
phants ain’t got hair? ” 

“ Bet you a quarter,” answered Stubby. 


FINDING A HOME 


245 


“ Don’t be bettin’ the quarter you are 
goin’ to put into the elephant,” warned 
Beany. 

“ I ain’t. I got another. I bet you both 
of them.” 

‘‘ Aw, let’s don’t be wastin’ our money 
bettin’,” said cautious Stubby. “ Ele¬ 
phants ain’t got hair and there ain’t no use 
bettin’ about it. Fellows, the bakery on 
the corner is sellin’ six stale cream-puffs 
for five cents to-day; a regular bargain. 
I’ve got a nickel. Let’s have some.” So 
the conversation about the elephant con¬ 
tinued at the bakery, the boys arguing 
between bites at the cream-cakes, with the 
cream dripping from their chins. 

Most of the children in Springdale were 
just as excited as these three boys. All 
sorts of plans for earning money were put 
into operation; concerts were given; la^vn- 


246 


JU:N^aLE JOE 


parties were held; and never in the his¬ 
tory of the city had children been so will¬ 
ing to do errands. Their unusual industry 
resulted in a considerable sum of money. 

A week later, Mr. Anderson, who was 
a native of Springdale and who had spent 
his boyhood in the same haunts that Beany 
and Stubby and Fatty now occupied, re¬ 
ceived a telegram from the city. He took 
it to Ali. 

“ Son,” he said, “ IVe got just the place 
for you and Joie. It is in the beautiful 
city of Springdale where I was born and 
where I spent my boyhood. They have a 
wonderful park of beautiful forest land, 
in fact, they call it Woodland Park. It 
is an ideal place for you. I had better 
wire them our acceptance at once. They 
want to buy Joie, but you would not want 
to sell him, so we will arrange for a ten- 


FINDING A HOME 247 

years’ lease of yourself and Joie to the city 
of Springdale.” 

Thus it came about that Ali and Joie 
severed their relations with the great 
Ringden Brothers circus, and entrained 
for Springdale in far-away New England. 

Such an outpouring of children had 
never been seen before in Springdale as 
that which welcomed Ali and Joie at the 
station when they arrived at the city of 
their adoption. 

A monstrous parade had been planned, 
with members of the city government rid¬ 
ing at the head and half a dozen youthful 
bands and drum-corps in the procession. 
The Boy Scouts were there, a thousand 
strong; and the Girl Scouts had five hun¬ 
dred in line; each of the city schools had 
its division. It was a wonderful day for 
the children of Springdale; and Joie and 


248 JUNGLE JOE 

Ali rode at the very head of the proces¬ 
sion. Joie’s trappings were all new; his 
howdah had been gilded; and Ali looked 
very fine in the court dress of a Malay 
prince. 

So while the bands blared, and the 
drum-corps thumped, and flags waved, 
and children shouted themselves hoarse, 
the parade wended its way to Woodland 
Park where Ali and Joie were to live. 
There was a convenient little cottage for 
Ali, and close to it a small barn that had 
been fitted up for Joie, and there was 
hay enough in the barn to last him for 
months. 

Woodland Park was a beautiful place, 
stretching for five miles along the majes¬ 
tic river. There were boulevards for auto¬ 
mobiles and foot-paths for pedestrians, 
winding in and out among the trees. 


FINDING A HOME 


249 


Squirrels scampered along the pathways 
or chattered in the tree-tops, and birds 
were everywhere. 

There was a large pasture for the bison, 
where six head grazed peacefully, and 
a high enclosure for the deer; there was a 
bird-house and a snake-house, and dens 
for lions, bears, and wolves; not to men¬ 
tion a large den, with a swimming-pool 
for the polar bear. So, it will be seen that 
Woodland Park was an Eldorado of 
beauty and wonder for the children of 
Springdale. 

They had always liked the park, but 
now they had Joie and Ali they liked it 
better than ever. Every Wednesday and 
Saturday afternoon they would come to 
the park in droves, and Ali would put on 
his court dress and put on Joie’s best 
howdah and take the children for rides up 


250 


JUNGLE JOE 


and down the boulevards under the 
friendly trees. 

Joie and Ali were never more happy 
than when the howdah was swarming with 
laughing and screaming children, and Joie 
was pacing up and down with Ali walk¬ 
ing at his side. Thus it was that the two 
grew into the hearts and affections of all 
the children of Springdale. 

Every autumn when Ringden Brothers 
circus went into headquarters, Mr. An¬ 
derson would leave the show and come 
back to Springdale to be at home with his 
family. The winter evenings he and Ali 
spent before the open fire roasting chest¬ 
nuts and popping corn, and talking over 
the old days of elephant-drives and tiger- 
hunts in far-away Malay land. But, no 
matter upon what topic they talked, on 
these rare evenings, Ali was sure to steer 




The two grew into the hearts and affections of all 

THE CHILDREN.—Page 250. 




FINDING A HOME 


251 


the conversation back to Joie; to remind 
the Sahib of what a clever baby elephant 
Joie had been, and how wonderful he was 
now. But he was not an animal, Ali 
would insist when any one referred to him 
in that manner. Joie is Foiks; he knows 
as much as any of us. I have never for¬ 
gotten, Sahib, what the old priest told 
me. It has saved my life several times, 
and it helps me always to understand the 
wild creatures. Joie is my brother.” 


THE END 




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